A Lot of Surprises
by Lelo07
Summary: Kensi and Deeks have been strengthening their partnership since day 1. But what happens when tragedy strikes and they have to take on parenthood, together? Will it pull them closer or tear them apart? T rating but slight M section in chapter 6.
1. The News

"Try again."

"Sam, I've called six times, to each of them, and they haven't answered."

"They could have been in the shower or on a run. Try again." Callen Pressures, siding with his partner of now five years. Eric looks between the two men. Sighing, he dials the now familiar number in and turns on the speakers.

"Hi, this is Kensi leave a message." The now all- too -familiar sounding voice mail chimes. The doors to the tech room slide open and they turn to see Nell Jones, Eric's new assistant, quickly coming in.

"Sorry, I was at my sisters, she just had a baby and he's been keeping her up, so I thought I could help her over the weekend, you know, let her catch up on some sleep..."

"We can't get Kensi or Deeks to pick up their phones" Eric interrupts his partner, knowing she could ramble for the next half hour if he let her.

"What's this all about?" Nell asks, "Is everyone okay? We don't have emergency calls for nothing."

"I wish we knew. I was getting ready to take my daughter to the park when Hetty called." Sam is trying not to let his concern show, but is getting more and more worried by the second. As if on cue, Hetty walks in.

"Have you reached Mr. Deeks or Miss Blye yet Eric?"

"No, Hetty, and I don't know what to do. They always have their phones with them. I guess it's possible they have them on silent, but I haven't had this problem with either of them before on a weekend."

Nell jumps, a sure sign she has an idea. "Did you try tracking their cell phones gps signals?"

Eric looks as if someone just slapped him across the face. Why didn't he think of that? Without answering her question, he starts tapping away on his keyboard. "Okay, the signals are being triangulated, which means their phones are on." He replies feeling a little relieved already. They all watch the screen in anticipation. "That can't be right." Eric says clearly puzzled. "It's only picking up a signal in Kensi's house. It should show Deeks' phone too." He starts zooming in and out trying to find where Deeks' phone is. "I've never seen it do this, the signals of both phones are being picked up but only one address is showing, Kensi's"

Nell looks embarrassed and the guys don't understand. "Zoom back in on Kensi's place" Nell says softer than usual. Eric does as he is told and looks at her. "No, further" she says, taking control of his keyboard. She slides her chair over resulting in him being pushed out of the way. She zooms until only Kensi's house is showing on the screen. It takes them about half a second to realize what she had a minute ago.

"I'll call her house phone." Eric says.

Kensi is laying in bed, the sun shining in her eyes woke her up about half an hour ago but she doesn't want to get up yet. She looks at the sleeping form next to her and sighs. She closes her eyes and is trying to sleep when the arm around her waist pulls her in closer. She half smiles at this. If he woke up now with her obviously enjoying being held she would have to hurt him so he wouldn't tell the guys. But she can clearly see he is still asleep, shaggy blonde hair over his eyes, lying on his stomach. She lets him pull her closer as she continues to look up at the ceiling.

The TV is still on from last night with the menu of "Miss Congeniality" playing soft music that she is sure will be stuck in her head for days now. She doesn't remember when she fell asleep, but knows it was before he did. They didn't start the movie until almost 2 am so she's not surprised she fell asleep. She's surprised that he must have watched more because the menu screen is back on and he would've shut it off by now if he'd watched until the end.

She tries not to laugh at the though of what they must have looked like at the DVD rental kiosk outside the local grocery store. She wanted a romantic comedy, as usual, but, as always, he wanted some action or sci-fi movie, also typical of him. They must've argued for at least five minutes over who's turn it was. It was obviously hers. He picked out that last movie, oh, what was it about, some true story about a guy getting stuck in a cave. She fell asleep during that one too.

Come to think of it, they always fall asleep before the movie's over. But they finally met a compromise and went with "Miss Congeniality", it had a romantic, soft side for her, and an action side for him. She had finally convinced him when she started describing how the main character was an undercover tomboy that was forced into joining the Miss America pageant. Of coarse he'd agree with her after that.

She realizes now she is starting to get hungry. Maybe, she can sneak a donut before he wakes up. Before she can think much of it, her home phone rings. It makes her jump, not expecting a call this early. Well, it really wasn't that early. It's almost 10 am. Usually they're already at OSP by now.

She tries to break free but is surprised by his tight grip, even in his sleep. The phone is now on its fourth ring, two more before the answering machine picks up. She takes a breath and realizes she'd have to go the other direction for the phone. She turns on her left side and reaches across the bed towards the night stand. He wakes up at the feel of her pressure on his side and rolls to face her. She continues for the phone, trying to climb over him now. He surprises her by pulling her into him as he rolls onto his back, now laying on her stomach on top of him with her hand on the phone. She presses the button to answer before she even has it near her face, just to keep it from going to answering machine. She looks down at him now. He is grinning and giving her that goofy look he always gives her when he's about to say some smart comment. She slaps her hand over his mouth but doesn't move off of him.

"Hello?" she says warily, seeing that it's a blocked number.

"Hi, Kensi, it's Eric, ummm..." she waits and can hear Sam in the background. She's immediately on guard, forgetting she's still laying on someone in her bed. "Ummm... Hetty says you and Deeks need to get up... Now... Uh... there's an emergency, and you two need to get in here ASAP... uh bye."

She stares at the phone for a second before looking back down at Deeks.

"What was that about?" He asks her, his voice still muffled by her hand. She moves her hand and starts frantically trying to move, remembering she is laying on top of him and this is going to get really awkward, really fast. As she moves he surprises her again by wrapping his hands around her waist and pulling her back to him. She falls back into his chest and she can see he's concerned.

These days, they rarely get phone calls, usually just text messages or emails from work. She goes to move again but cant, as his arms have moved so one is around her waist and the other around her mid back. Their faces are only about three inches apart now and he can see she's studying his face with caution. Trying to figure out what to do. He's proud of himself for breaking down so many walls already.

a few months ago, when they'd first started actually doing things outside of work together, she wouldn't even let him hold her hand undercover. Now they are laying in her bed, her body on top of his, and she isn't really resisting.

"You'd better let me go. We have to go into OSP now. There's some type of emergency and the guys probably already know your sleeping here. Lets go now before they think we're doing something else." She finally replies. He loosens his grip just enough for her to slide out and they both get up.

"How'd they know I'm here?" Deeks asks, sleep still in his voice. She pauses and looks up at him again, knowing her face is turning red.

"It's Eric and Nell, who can't they track down?" She quickly gets up and leaves him alone in the bed.

"Get a shower, I'll get breakfast." He instructs, hoping she didn't just put up another wall. Also crossing his fingers that this isn't anything too serious.

"I can just grab something and eat it in the car." She replies shortly. She is still facing away from him because she can feel her face is now a deep shade of pink and doesn't want him to see.

"Well you'll have until I get out of the shower to eat so I will find you something better than one of your sugary cereal bars." He tries not to show her what he's thinking. He doesn't want her to know he's really wanting to get closer, but she keeps giving him false hope then pushing him away again. It's starting to frustrate him, but he can't let show. Not if he wants any chance he still has left.

He goes out to the living room then to the kitchen, her back still to him as she digs through a drawer of jeans. Finally settling on her favorite pair of jeans, medium wash with a couple tiny torn areas near the pocket, she heads to the closet, quickly settling on her white long sleeved shirt. She gets into the shower, mind still racing. She can't even think straight right now.

Whatever it is, they've hidden it well, or so she thought. Sam and Callen hadn't said anything that would leave her to believe that they knew something was up. She takes a shower faster than ever because she can't remember Eric ever calling her about an emergency on a Sunday. What's even stranger, is that they don't even have a case right now. Cases usually wait until Monday.

Did he seriously just hold me on top of him? Why would he do that, we're just partners, right? She's not entirely sure anymore.

Ever since the Stanley King case, when he brought her over burgers and a milkshake, he's been staying the night at her place, now and then, usually most weekends. It started with him coming, watching whatever show happened to be on, and leaving when they decided it was time to go to bed. That progressed to him just staying on the couch, and when she bought a new TV for the super bowl and put it in her room, they'd started watching movies in there.

They always ended up falling asleep, they never intentionally slept together, right? It just happened. Yes, that was it. But that didn't explain why she felt like she couldn't breathe when he was holding her, and it wasn't because he was holding her too tight. She had those stupid little butterflies that reminded her of high school, she hadn't really had them since. That didn't make any sense though, why would Deeks, of all people, make her feel that way?

She gets out of the shower and grabs a towel to dry off with. She dresses and goes out to the kitchen with a towel still wrapped around her wet hair.

"The shower's yours." she tells him just as he puts something in the toaster.

"That's for you. Eat, and when I come out we'll leave." He feels the strange urge to wipe the mascara that hadn't completely washed off and was now in dark circles under her eyes.

No, don't, she already is acting weird because of what you did earlier, no need to make it more awkward. Apparently she can read his thoughts though, and it's her turn to surprise him.

She walks up to him and looks at him with her mismatched eyes and smiles a little. He realizes that they are standing the way they did when Jason found Tracy going through her "boyfriend's" computer. She lets her hand come up to his face and he doesn't know what to do. Flirting with Kensi was like a balancing act. Not enough, and she'd think he was just joking or teasing. Too much, and she puts up another wall.

She reads him again and leans in close, their chests almost touching. "It's okay" she smiles her little half smile that melts him, not that he'd let it show. "I'm not upset with you," she says now almost in a whisper, "I.. I just didn't know how to react." She moves her hand from his scruffy beard that she now loves and moves it to the curly blonde locks that she loves even more.

He stares at her in disbelief. Did I just actually hear those words come out of her mouth? Is she really almost hugging me right now? Did she just admit she thinks of me as more than a partner? Looking into her eyes he can almost see the wall getting ready to come back up because he hasn't said anything yet. He still can't think straight. Not with her standing this close, playing with the curls on the back of his neck.

He does what he wanted to do a minute ago. He reaches up to her face and cups it in both hands. He moves his thumbs to wipe away the makeup and she smiles at him again. She moves a little closer and actually puts both hands around his neck. His forehead lowers and touches hers. Kensi is trying not to explode.

What's happening? What am I doing? Why am I just standing here with my arms around him. Just as he feels her begin to move to pull back, he surprises them both, instinctively wraps his arms around the small of her back, not unlike he did earlier in bed. They just look at each other for a minute. She wants to pull away and just run out the door and get out of there. But this feels so... right.

No! She wants to scream at her self. No! I can't be feeling like this. This is Deeks! Goofy, flirty, egotistical, Deeks! But, she can't help but enjoy the warmth of his body as he pulls her closer, removing the towel from her head and letting her curls fall down around her shoulders and he leans down and nuzzles the side of her face, smelling the raspberry shampoo in her hair.

He pulls back and looks her in the eyes. She looks in his and can't believe that they can look any bluer than they do right now. It's almost as if he has been in the ocean so much that the blue of it has permanently colored his eyes. He watches her eyes looking into his and is trying to think of what he should do next.

Does she want me to do something else? I don't think she wants me to kiss her but her eyes are looking at my lips like she is thinking about it. God, why is she so hard to read? He's saved by the popping of the toaster bringing them back to reality. She drops her arms and he does the same but she doesn't move, like it's her way of telling him that was okay and she didn't mind him holding her again. She wouldn't say those out loud, although, she did almost say it earlier when she first came in the kitchen. Saying she liked being held, hugged, or whatever that was, was not something Kensi was going to admit soon. That was to soft of a statement for her. Heaven forbid, she actually act like a woman! But, that's one of the things he loves about her, woah, wait, where'd that come from. I don't love her like that, no, like a close friend, partner, whatever we are. But wait, haven't I been kinda trying to get her to like me more than that?

She walks past him just barely touching his arm as she passes. But in the book of Kensi, that is a pretty large gesture in itself. He hurries to the bathroom to shower, taking his travel bag with him. Okay, so they were usually called go-bags, but he liked to think optimistically. Travel sounded a lot more pleasurable than go. Go sounded like an order. Which was what he was given most of the time. He'd done so much undercover work in the past that sometimes he didn't know who he was in the morning when he woke up.

His favorite had to be when he was undercover as Jason Wyler. Not only because he got to hang out with some pretty cool guys, even though they ended up being criminals, and getting to box and still be paid his salary. The real reason he loved that he was able to go undercover as Jason Wyler, was because that's when he met Kensi. Well, technically he had met Tracy, Kensi's alias. But without that mission he wouldn't have been asked to join NCIS OSP, well he still really wasn't an official agent. Just the liaison officer between LAPD and NCIS. He did truly feel like he was becoming part of the team. A while ago Hetty had mentioned he could join NCIS officially when he was ready. He was ready, he was more than ready, but something held him back. He had been with LAPD since graduating, and even though nobody really was friends with him there, he still felt like they were his family.

Wait, no their not! He almost said this out loud at the realization. LAPD coworkers were more like the in-laws. They put up with him and still cared about him, but if something happened to him, like if he died, they would go to his funeral and be over it in a week. They never saw him anyway. He was always undercover and now, at NCIS. Why did it take him that long to figure that fact out. It was indeed a fact. NCIS was his family. If something happened to him today, even though he wasn't even an agent, he knows they would all be upset.

He still sees how hurt they are about loosing Dom. Dom wasn't there long enough to become as close as he is to Callen and Sam. They don't even seem to talk about him. They cared, but not like family. He knows Kensi didn't feel the way she does about him about Dom. Or at least he hopes not. Okay well he hopes she cared, they were partners anyway, but she talks about him like a little brother.

He steps out of the shower and dries off, digs through his bag and pulls out his dark blue t shirt, light jeans, and his favorite brown belt. He quickly dresses and throws his clothes in his bag. Usually, he would fold them first, but remembering that they were going in for an emergency and had already wasted a couple minutes in the kitchen, he decides neat clothes are not a priority right now.

Kensi walks over to the toaster and looks at her breakfast. Two whole wheat bagels toasted just like she liked them. She smiles, she wouldn't have ever eaten this a few months ago, but now, it's almost normal. They have come to a few, no a lot, of compromises over the past months. She would eat a whole wheat bagel if she could put her favorite chocolate hazelnut spread on top of it. He had agreed that even though it wasn't as good as peanut butter, at least it wasn't a Rice Crispy Treat. Glancing at the table she smiles again, this time letting out a small chuckle of amusement. He has also set out a glass of orange juice for her along with an apple.

She sits down and eats her breakfast with just the apple left when he comes out of the bathroom with his bag. She goes to get up and he gives her a look. She knows what he means and rolls her eyes as she dramatically grabs her apple as she gets up. They slip on their jackets, she grabs her keys, and they head out the door.

It's rather cold for Los Angeles this morning but they don't say anything. They actually don't really talk at all on the ride there. He watches her though. Her hair is almost completely dry now, in those curls he has always longed to run his hands through. How long have these thoughts been going through his head? He has always kind of thought of her as more than just a partner. But thought the line stopped at close friend. They are stuck in a little traffic and he can see her beginning to get frustrated and tense.

Once again he does what he wanted to do a little earlier. He reaches across to her and runs his fingers through her hair, tucking it behind her ear. She stops tapping her fingers on the steering wheel, a sure sign she's silently freaking out about something, and looks at him.

How can he look so calm? Every time he even comes close to me my stomach flips. Why can't he be more on edge about this, but then again his calmness seems to calm me down, maybe opposites do attract... Stop! Your not dating him. Sure, he stayed the night, you kind of had something happen in the kitchen, it was a hug. Friends hug, don't they?

She wasn't sure. she hadn't really had many friends since she was younger. Moving from base to base with her dad had been hard on her. Friends seemed to come and go, so there was no use in getting close to anyone. When she thinks about it, it makes sense that she doesn't let people get close. Not being able to have a friend for more than a few years when she was growing up was part of it, but she also has had other pains. Her mom disappeared when she was about 13. She still can remember her face, even though she was still mad at her for leaving, she still misses her every day. Her dad had died when she was fifteen and she was forced to go live with her mom's sister and her husband.

Her Aunt Rachael and Uncle Mike had been nice enough, but it wasn't the same. Then she met Jack, he was in the Navy like her dad was, she was too young at the time to see it but all she was looking for was someone to love her like her dad had.

Nobody can love me like dad did. When Jack left her Christmas morning, it hurt her deeply. She hasn't talked to her family since then. It's been what, six years? No, five, or maybe seven? Maybe she needs to talk to someone, her aunt, uncle, maybe even one of her cousins. No, later. She finally decides.

Nobody may be able to love me like my dad did, but if anyone has showed me they care about me, I mean really truly care, it's Deeks. I can't believe I just admitted that! She struggles but eventually convinces herself that nothing has happened and they haven't actually said it yet, so there's nothing going on between them. They are just partners, friends. The way he is still stroking her hair isn't helping her internal conflict.

"Kens, you okay?" he looks concerned but she just focuses on the road, the traffic is starting to pick up and they are now cruising, just a little above the speed limit to OSP.

"I'm fine." she looks at him and he's giving her the all-too-familiar "Don't tell me your fine when you're really not" look. "Okay, fine. I was thinking about this morning." She pauses and looks at him, clearly knowing where she's going with this. "Actually, the problem is, I don't know what to think, It's just... Are we..." she struggles and his hand is now resting on her shoulder. He slides it down her arm and takes her hand.

"I think we have a thing...but only if you want to. But let's just leave it at that for now. Until we know what's going on." He strokes the top of her hand with his thumb and she interlocks her fingers with his. He thinks she's saying she wants to have a thing.

Then she turns and smiles. Yes, she definitely wants to. They arrive at OPS and they are still holding each others hands. Not sure what to expect once they get inside, he gives her a reassuring squeeze, and they get out of her car. The "thing" stays outside.

"Gentlemen, and lady," Hetty begins giving Nell a sidways glance as she added the last word. "I would rather wait until Mr. Deeks and Miss Blye arrive but I will tell you, someone they both have been close to has passed away. I think we should wait until they arrive until I give you any more details." Nobody argues. Nearly an hour after the phone call the doors to ops open.

They walk inside and it is eerily silent. Usually by now the copy machine is beeping and clicking, you can hear people in the gym, and usually an argument going on between one of the duos. But they walk in and the only sounds are their boots hitting the ground at a slightly faster pace than usual.

Then again, it's Sunday. Nobody works on Sundays. Except them. As they enter ops, Kensi looks around, bracing herself for whatever smart remarks she's going to get from their coworkers, but instead is met by Sam, looking at her in an unsettling way. Sam's eyes were rarely this soft and tender looking. The last time she saw him looking at her with... almost sad eyes, was right after Dom died and he had come to comfort her on the steps of the roof. Remembering this, she panics, but relaxes immediately when she sees Callen standing in the middle of the room and Hetty standing behind Eric and Nell at their computers.

Hetty takes their hands, which is a very strange gesture, even for Hetty who likes to surprise everyone. "Miss Blye, Mr. Deeks, please take a seat." she says as she ushers them to the two office chairs in front of the screen. They look at each other with the same expression. Should they be afraid, should they be sad, it felt like they were being called to the principals office.

"I'm sure you both are familiar with a young woman named Hanna-Rose, correct?" Hetty begins, cautiously, which also sends up red flags for the team. Hetty is never this gentle unless it is something catastrophic. They both nod, stunned, but aware they aren't going to be getting good news, but hoping for the best.

"Hanna-Rose Deeks was found dead this morning by a neighbor." Hetty continues, still trying to be soft with her agents, something she usually wasn't. Deeks grabs at her hand and she doesn't pull away. She glances up at Sam and Callen who seem to be as stunned as she is right now.

"Miss Blye, you may recognize the name Hanna-Rose London a little better." Kensi slowly nods. She knew who Hetty was talking about already. She had only known one Hanna-Rose in her life, and she was at her wedding. She only knows a handful of people with the last name Deeks. All of them, and by all, she means three of them, had been at the wedding. Hanna-Rose, her husband John, and John's father, whom she can't recall the name of.

The Deeks holding her hand seems to register that she is about to loose it when he starts stroking her hand with his thumb like in the car. Callen and Sam obviously notice something is different between them, but are pretty sure nothing has actually happened, although they are rather touchy-feely today, it could be because they just lost someone they knew.

"Hanna was one of my only friends that I have actually kept in touch with over the years." Kensi says quietly looking down. Deeks wants to just hug her and tell her everything is going to be okay, but can't right now. She wouldn't want him to do that in front of the team. "Well, we kept in touch until a couple years ago, when she moved and she never gave me her new number. I just assumed she was busy. We would do that sometimes, forget to call for a couple months then spend three hours catching up on what we could." She smiles at this memory. "She obviously did most of the talking since I couldn't tell her about work..." her voice breaks and she stops. Squeezing Deek's hand, trying to give him the message to talk, now.

"I met Hanna-Rose in high school. She was one of the only people who know about what really happened between me and my dad, other than you guys, Ray, and Jenna. I know what you're thinking, her last name is Deeks, but I had to change my name, so, no, we aren't related. My last name came from her. She was a close friend. Martin came from Ray Martindale and Deeks came from Hanna-Rose Deeks. I wish I could have stayed in contact but shortly after the wedding I changed my name and went into undercover work, cutting off my past completely." He doesn't look anywhere but at Kensi the entire time he is saying this and the guys are starting to think somethings definitely up. He looks at Hetty.

"What are we doing now?" Hetty sighs, knowing she is about to give them the shock of their lives, as if telling them that their friend just died wasn't enough.

"I think it's safe to assume that since neither of you have talked to her for a while, that you didn't know both her mom and dad passed away during a fire last year, his father died of natural causes a month later and as if that wasn't enough, her husband was killed in Afghanistan during a suicide bombing two months ago, only a week after he deployed." She pauses, letting them soak this in. They look at her completely stunned, both wishing they had kept in contact so they could have helped their friend.

"How did she die, Hetty" Kensi finally asks what they both want to know. "She had a brain aneurism that resulted in a stroke. She didn't suffer, if that helps any." Knowing it wouldn't help much but would be a little reassuring.

"Is NCIS investigating?" Callen speaks for the first time during the conversation.

"No, she wasn't Navy and it appears that there was no foul play." Hetty replies quickly.

"So, why do I feel like there is something your not telling us?" Deeks asks, almost afraid to know the answer.

"Ms. Deeks had a baby girl. There was a legal document in her desk stating that if she was to die that her baby girl would go to you." Hetty looks at them. They give her a look as if she just spoke a foreign language.

They quickly glance at each other. "Who?" They ask in unison.

"Both of you. The document states, "I leave my child under the guardianship of Mr. Michael Brandel and Miss Kensi Blye." She tries to read their expressions.

"Both, as in Kensi and me?" Deeks asks, thinking he just heard wrong.

"That is correct." Hetty watches as shock turns into understanding and then in Kensi's face, pure panic. She jumps up, Deeks still holding her hand. She puts her free hand to her head, trying to make sense of this whole mess. Deeks stands and grabs her other hand. Eyes locking with hers, she knows she'll be okay. She's seen him with kids before, he's great. She doesn't know anything about them. And on top of that, she doesn't know a single detail about the child she's soon to be responsible for, and she is already panicking.

"What's the child's name?" Deeks asks, as if reading her mind, again. She looks at him then at Hetty who motions to Eric that it is his turn. He brings up a birth certificate and a couple of photographs. Hetty smiles as she reads the names to them even though they can read them themselves.

"Michaela Kensi Deeks. Born February 4th, 2012."

"She's not even a month old!" Kensi almost screams. She was expecting a toddler, or at least a one year old child.

"It's fine, Kens," he waits for her to make eye contact, "we'll figure it out"

She nods, then replies "we always do." they both smile at this, remembering that Deeks had told her those exact lines before he was "fired",the guys look at them knowing they're missing some sort of significance behind the statement.

"And actually, she is a month old next Wednesday !" He grimaces at the elbow he knew he was going to get, noticing it wasn't as painful as usual. She gives him a weird look, one he's never seen before... no, wait, he has. She's scared. He's seen it only one time in her eyes before. When she was in a room filled with lasers that would set off a bomb the second she crossed one.

"We. Will. Be. Fine." he repeats. She leans in closer and whispers just loud enough for him to hear "don't say we're fine until we know we are." she grins a little, and he starts to laugh then so does she. Sam and Callen are watching this like it's the most interesting TV show they've ever seen. It's cute and gross at the same time.

They obviously care about each other, but it's almost like their little sister is growing up and dating her cousin. Okay not that gross maybe like little sister dating one of their best friends, but still weird. But they knew this would happen eventually.

Yeah, they would tease and tell them they were a cute couple, only for Kensi to punch them or Deeks. Deep down they all knew the whole time but nobody would dare to admit it. The teasing continued and they forgot about the fact that they would end up together, and everyone knew it, but nobody could believe it.

"So, what do we do now Hetty?" Kensi asks, noticing, but not caring, that she uses the word we in a way that refers to both her and Deeks, not the whole team, and not just herself, it's strange to say, but something she could get used to.

"If you are sure you want to do this," she pauses, they look at each other before nodding, "then you need to be at the courthouse at two o'clock tomorrow afternoon to sign the papers." They nod again. She starts out of the room

"Mr. Deeks, can I have a word with you in my office for a minute?" she asks. He breaks his gaze with Kensi, she drops his hands and he turns back to look at her like don't go anywhere, I'll be right back. She nods and he follows Hetty out of ops. Kensi feels as if her feet have been nailed to the ground.

How could this happen? I feel like all I have done today is ask myself questions. Why can't life be simple. Well, if life was simple and nothing like this ever happened, she wouldn't have a job.

Callen comes over and wraps an arm around her like a big brother. "So, you ready for this?" she comes out of her trance, and looks up at him. He's usually known for smart remarks and cruel humor, but seems completely serious.

"I don't know, Deeks may be really good with kids, but I'm not sure. She's so little, what if I break her?"

Sam laughs, "Kensi, you'll be fine, just don't drop her, support her head, and you'll be fine." she always forgets he's a dad. That may come in handy here if she needs someone to call.

"I can show you how to change a diaper and how to make a bottle now if you want." Nell chimes in. She seems to be really good with kids too, then again her sister has one so she probably has the most recent experience.

"Okay, that's probably not a bad idea since I don't know any of that." She follows Nell out of ops and tries to think of it as an undercover op that she needs to learn new skills for. She knows it's way more than that, but it calms her, it's familiar ground. She waits in the bullpen while Nell runs out to her car. She returns with a fully packed diaper bag.

"Why don't you go and get one of the baby dummies you guys had to use for CPR re certification last week?" Kensi gets up and does as instructed. The closet outside the gym has the dolls that she has always thought looked rather creepy. She comes back and Nell is heading to the locker room before she even reaches her.

"I thought we would have a little more privacy in here" she tells her when they meet. She is right. There are only a handful of girls in OSP, and right now there are only three of them. Nell, Hetty, and herself. She sets the dummy down on the large counter in front of the mirror. She looks at her reflection and realizes she still looks totally terrified. She takes a couple of breaths and calms down. She hears Deeks call her name.

"In here." she says.

"You can come in, it's just me and Kensi, I was just getting ready to give her some tips, but your going to need them too, might as well join!" Nell calls back.

Deeks walks in cautiously, still afraid there could be someone else in there, even though he knew very well there wouldn't be. He comes and stands behind Kensi, putting his hands on her shoulders, he can feel her relax. He's surprised when she doesn't elbow him or shrug away when he gives such an intimate gesture, well it's not really that big of one, but in Kensi's book, it's the biggest sign she has given him yet.

Nell notices but doesn't say anything. Kensi must really be upset if she's letting him touch her. "Okay, diaper or bottle first?" Nell questions breaking the silence. He looks at Kensi in the mirror, telling her it's her choice.

"Bottle" she replies.

"Well when you actually make a bottle you have to boil the water, but we don't have to do that now." She says, taking out a bottle and three containers of baby formula from the diaper bag. "Each type of formula has a different ratio of water to formula mix. Powdered formula is 1 level scoop for every two ounces of water."she says handing the bottle and formula to Kensi, expecting her to do as told. She quickly notices the ounce markings on the side of the bottle and fills the bottle easily. Deeks is impressed, for someone who can't even cook, she did that pretty easily.

"Next, the concentrated liquid formula uses one ounce of formula per ounce of water." she hands another bottle and the formula to Deeks. He is careful and gets it the first try.

"The last one is the easiest. The ready made formula is exactly as it sounds. You just pour it into a bottle and warm it up. Oh I should make you a list of stuff you are going to need. Hold on." She pulls a notepad and pen out of the bag. Kensi wonders if there is anything she doesn't have in the bag. "Okay, do either of you have any idea how to diaper a baby?" Nell looks at them expectantly.

"Uh, I've kinda seen them do it on TV, or at the mall when a mom's changing her kid in the bathroom." Kensi replies.

"Same here, only it's the dads I see changing them." he says grinning. Kensi elbows him in the ribs lightly, he just smiles more. That's the Kensi I know, I wonder how she is going to deal with a baby, I hope she doesn't run away when she feels overwelmed.

Nell shows them how to correctly diaper a baby, leaving the powder closed but going through the motions. They're pretty sure that Hetty wouldn't appreciate the powder on the dummy.

Once Nell is satisfied they have the diapering down, she finishes the list that is now three, cute little blue foot pages long, and leaves them. They stare at their reflections in the full length mirror for a minute

"These are the same clothes we were wearing the day I thought you were fired." she says quietly after a minute. He had realized this too about five seconds earlier.

"We look good together" his hands now down around her waist, still both facing the mirror.

"Yeah, I guess we do." she replies softly. "What did Hetty want."

"Nothing important." He grins. "So are you ready to be a mom?" He asks, suddenly serious. She turns around in his arms and loops her arms around his neck like she had done in her kitchen earlier today, earlier when they didn't know their friend was dead, before they knew that they would now be facing parenthood, together. But when she thinks about it, she's glad his name was there too. She couldn't have done it alone. She knows he would have been there anyway, but it was nice to know he would be there in the long run too. That's when she realizes something she should have thought about earlier. She pulls back suddenly, confusing him slightly.

"Where are we going to live, my place is a mess, you have too many neighbors and you'd look strange suddenly coming home with a baby, I guess I would too." He pulls her into a friendly hug, and he's glad that's all he did at the moment, because as if on cue, Hetty walks in.

"Mr. Deeks, Miss Blye, I assume you already figured this, but you are being relocated into a new neighborhood. You will be able to go by your real names and if anyone asks, you both work for LAPD." She hands them a gps and two sets of keys. "Eric already programed the gps to take you to the nearest Baby Warehouse then to your new house. Moving trucks will be driven by Sam and Callen and they will meet you at your houses when you're ready. The house is fully furnished so niether of you have to worry about buying furniture, since your rentals now came with the furniture in them. I've already contacted your landlords and notified them of your moving out." She leaves them with the keys.

"Is it just me or does Hetty never let anyone else contribute to the conversation" Deeks asks, putting his arm around her shoulder as they walk out of the locker room. They drop the keys to the moving trucks on Sam and Callen's desks then walk out into the parking area to find Hetty, standing next to an H1 Hummer.

Handing Deeks the keys, she says "It's has a lot more room than either of your cars and I see Nell left you with a good sized list of supplies you will need. Better get going so you have enough time to get everything." She leaves them with the keys and massive SUV. They literally climb into the Hummer and Deeks drives, surprised Kensi even let him, but then again, she has surprised him more times today than any other day he has known her. "Destination on your right, DING" The gps chimes.

"Well, this ought to be interesting." Kensi comments as they step out of the SUV.

"Lets just hope it doesn't take too long, it's almost lunch time. I know how you get when your hungry." This recieves an elbow in the ribs, but he just laughes. "You know Fern, some things never change." She laughs and lets him take her hand as they enter the store.

Walking down the first isle they come to, they quickly realize they are going to be here for a while. There has to be a hundred cribs alone, thats not including the rocking chairs, changing tables, dressers, bassinets, lamps, and other various assorted items. Thankfully the people who designed the store were nice enough to put all the matching furnature together so you can see it all and pick it up in one spot.

"Absolutly not!" Kensi exclaims as she gives him the look as if he has three heads. "Why not? It's pink and purple. She is a girl."

"Compromise, please." She was referring to when she had wanted to get the navy blue and dark green set clearly made for a little boy. Finally they come to a gender neutral section. They both immediately settle on the green and yellow set. The extra padded rocking chairs are pastel green with small giraffes. The crib is a light maple with small carvings of different animals going around the top edge. The mobile has an elephant, zebra, giraffe, and monkey on it. The changing table and dresser match the crib and the lamp has a light yellow shade on it. The crib even comes with two changes of sheets and a blanket that matches the room.

They quickly realize they are going to have some assembling to do when they get home. They find someone who works there and he informs them that they will have the furniture waiting for them at register 5. They buy so many clothes, Kensi is sure they are going to go bankrupt. It surprises Deeks that half of what she picks out is pink and about a quarter of what she picks are dresses. He knows enough to keep his mouth shut.

They buy everything on the list and then a little more. Bottles, burp cloths, pacifiers, bottle warmer, bathtub, plenty of clothes, formula, lots of diapers, wipes, and baby powder, socks, and even a winter coat. You never know when a cold spell might hit sunny Los Angeles, so it's best to be prepared.

Thankfully the card went through. Deeks is just happy they have this Hummer. Hetty was right, as usual, because there is absolutely no way they could have fit all of this into either of their cars. They buy a pizza and head to their new house.

"Oh. My. God." Kensi gawks at the house. It is huge compared to her old rental. "It has a pool!" she says running to the full length windows at the back of the house. The dark wood floors of the open living room, dining room, and kitchen made it feel so elegant. Deeks had just walked in through the front door and was now in the kitchen which was just off to the left. The stairs were those floating kind that didn't look like they were attached to anything and were right next to the kitchen. The dining room was just off the kitchen, and he had walked past the table, leaving the pizza they had stopped for on the way sitting on top.

He had to admit, it was a beautiful house. "Let's go upstairs." She doesn't need told twice, she is already in love with this house and she has only seen downstairs. So far it is her dream home. She follows him up the stairs and they enter the first room to the left. She smiles as she notices the walls are already a light tan with small white flowers bordering the top of the walls. The room was actually large for a nursury. It even had it's own little bathroom that was also flower themed but in blue, green, and yellow daisies. They wouldn't even have to paint the room. It was already perfect.

The next two rooms on the right were extra bedrooms. One was an office, and the other had been turned into a workout room. There was a bathroom next to the nursery, it was definitely new, the accents of silver against the dark tile were beautiful.

"There's only one door left, well two actually." Deeks says as he grins at her, obviously as excited as she is. "Would you do the honor?" He steps aside and motions with his hand for her to open the double doors. She grabs both handles, turns them and pushes in. The dark mahogany doors swing open and they both just stand there, mouths open. Inside there is a California King sized canopy bed. Just for an idea of how big this room is, the bed doesn't even take up much of the space. There is a little nook of to the left that leads off onto the balcony. There is a fifty inch TV mounted on the wall in in front of the bed, and there is a bathroom door just to the right of the TV.

"Wow." Kensi says wide-eyed as she stares at the room. Deeks picks her up and carries her bridal style to the bed where they both collapse. That is, until she actually sees into the bathroom. She rolls off the other side of the bed and almost runs inside.

"It looks like a spa!" She exclaims excitedly. Deeks can't help but laugh, he doesn't think he's ever seen her this happy and excited before and that makes him happy too. He stands in the door way watching her take everything in. He has to admit, the bathroom does look like a spa. There is an extra large jacuzzi tub, a shower for two people, a small sauna next to the shower, and a double sink vanity.

They go back downstairs and reluctantly leave the beautiful house.

"Your place or mine first?" he asks.

"Mine, let's just get it over with." she says with a laugh. Surprisingly enough it wasn't that bad emptying her house. She had been keeping it a little neater ever since Deeks started visiting, and being a special agent that can be relocated at a moment's notice means most of her stuff was still in totes in the extra bedroom from when she moved in a couple years ago. She's going to miss this place, but remembering the place she is going to be calling home, she can't get too upset.

It only takes about thirty minutes to empty Deek's house of all his belongings. Between the four of them working and the fact that he only seems to own about ten changes of clothes, and the same amount of surfing clothes make packing what is not already packed pretty simple.

Monty was reluctant to get into the car after all of the excitement but eventually gave in. Nell and Eric had shown up too, giving them the chance to get their own cars to take with them to their new house. Eric volunteering to look after Monty until they were settled.

The look on their coworkers faces reminded them how lucky they were to have this house. Callen and Sam looked like their eyes were about to pop out and Eric and Nell were exploring every inch of the house like little kids.

They really need to get out of that room more often.

With the assistance of the team, they assembled the entire nursery in record time. Sam Took the crib, Nell and Eric each took a chair, Kensi and Deeks assembled the changing table, and Callen put the dresser together. The accessories soon followed and when they all stepped back to look, they were proud of their work.

"Well we need to get going and you two need to get to bed. Your not going to sleep through the night for about the next two years." Sam reminded them.

Everyone left and soon Kensi and Deeks were alone. They had managed to keep their hands to themselves while in the process of moving and assembling the furniture, but now they were alone. They embraced each other in the way they had already become accustomed to. He wrapped his arms around her waist and hers around his neck. They stood there in the middle of the living room in silence for a good five minutes before Kensi finally broke the silence.

"Seriously, what did Hetty want you to talk to her about?" She looks into his eyes, studying his reaction.

His goofy smile breaks, "It's a surprise, but you have to wait until tomorrow, Fern." She hits him lightly on the chest. She hates not knowing things, but obviously he thinks she will like it and doesn't seem worried.

"We should probably listen to Sam." Kensi nods and they head upstairs to their bedroom.


	2. New Faces and New Places

Exhausted from packing, they barely make it into bed. They sleep in their clothes because they don't feel like digging through the dozens of boxes they had failed to label and separate earlier.

Kensi falls asleep first. She is lying on her side and he curls around her. She always assumed he just did it in his sleep.

No guy is that good. He always made sure not to wake her up in the process. He drapes his arm around her and can still smell her shampoo as he rests his head on the pillow next to hers.

Kensi wakes up around two. She feels that she is being held down and doesn't recognize her surroundings. She's not in her bed. She panics and jumps, trying to break free.

"Kens, whats wrong?" The sleepy voice from behind her mumbles. She relaxes, remembering where she is.

"Nothing, go back to sleep." she rolls over to face him, his arm is still around her waist and his hair covers most of his eyes, but she can see he is still wide awake. They both prop their heads up underneath them. Both knowing they are thinking the same things, but are too stubborn to admit it. He starts stroking her back, noticing how these days, she seems to relax just by him touching her.

"Look, I forgot where I was and panicked. I'm fine." She narrows her eyes, attempting to get him to back off. He knows her too well to know that's all she's thinking about. He cocks one eyebrow and gives her the look and says "_Don't say your fine when your really not."_ She rolls her eyes. Just as she had the bad habit of saying she was fine, he had the habit of always pushing her to say something because he knew she was hiding something.

Maybe that's what separates him from the others. When she said she was fine, Callen would usually look at her but let it go. Sam wasn't the best at dealing with emotions so he usually didn't even ask if she was okay, not that he didn't care, if something was obviously wrong, he would ask. Nate used to get her to talk, but she usually didn't completely spill, she always held back.

But Deeks, Deeks somehow had a way of getting her to completely open up. This is also the reason she always had so many walls up when around him. She didn't want him to find something she didn't want him to know.

She takes a deep breath, knowing they won't sleep until she talks. They sit up against the headboard, his arm around her shoulder, pulling her in so her head is resting against his shoulder and her legs are tucked underneath her. "I guess it's just starting to sink in that in a few hours we are going to have a baby." He sees her eyes start to get misty. "I don't think I'm ready, what if I can't take care of her?" her voice starts to crack but she continues. "What if I hurt her? What if... I don't know I'm just..." A tear rolls down her cheek and she tries to hide it by looking away. He quickly pulls her back. He wipes the tear away and looks into her eyes. "I'm scared." Her voice almost a whisper. He pulls her closer as they slide down. Now laying on his back with her head facing down into his shoulder, her body curled up against his.

He registers what she just said. Kensi Blye just admitted she was scared. She NEVER, _**EVER**__, _said that. He strokes her hair and can feel her shaking, crying. He has only seen her almost cry once, when she thought he was leaving her.

"Kensi, it's okay." he says in a soothing voice she hasn't heard before. "I'm scared too, but nobody is ever ready to be a parent. Most of them have nine months to get used to the idea, though." He feels her stop shaking and lifts her chin to meet his eyes.

"You probably think I'm an idiot right now..." she says as she starts to pull back.

"NO!" he almost screams startling her, "Kensi, no." stopping her from pulling away. "It's okay, I'm glad you trust me enough to show me this side of you."

They now are back to laying on their sides facing each other, heads both resting on his pillow.

"I'm also glad that I'm the only one who gets to see this side of beautiful, wonderful, Kensi Marie Blye, and I would never think of you as an idiot. You're one of, no, you are **_the_** smartest_,_ toughest, strongest, and most wonderful woman I've ever known."

She is listening but can't believe what she is hearing come out of his mouth. Did he really mean it? Was he just comforting her? Why does she have to analyze everything he does? She looks in his eyes and knows he meant every word he was saying. She almost wants to cry again. Nobody, other than her dad, has ever told her something like this. She stops herself from breaking down.

"You know I always will be here if you need a shoulder to cry on, okay?" He is giving her the softest look she has ever seen on his face. She is so numb right now at the overload of emotions, she just nods. She realizes even a few days ago, if he had told her this, she would have probably reacted in a completely different way, most likely ending with him in pain.

When did this change? They were doing the same routine in a new house, why was it already so different? He is trying to read her face, seeing she is truly touched by what he just said, knowing he has almost every wall down. They're not even walls anymore. More like a chain link fence. Ones he can now easily climb over. He's not sure if he wants to try right now, he has already broken down so many, he doesn't want to press.

_He's trying to figure out what to do._ She realizes_. I have to be the most difficult person to be in a relations..._she pauses to make sure she even wants to think about that word. _Yes, relationship. Come on Kensi, you know"thing" is really just a codeword, easier to say than relationship. God, I know what I want to do, but I don't want to scare him._

Realizing that's how he must always feel about her, she takes a deep breath and does what she wants to. She stops all of her rational thoughts and just does what she feels she needs to do. She starts to lift herself up on her elbows, his face flickers with panic. _Yes, he definitely won't see this coming._ With the little reassurance that he wants her to stay, she moves her upper body on top of his.

_No, don't go! Wait, what..? What the hell is she doing?"_ He tenses but she doesn't back off. He is definitely on guard right now. He tries to sit up but she shifts the rest of her body on top of his, holding him down. He still manages to partially sit up.

She grabs her pillow from beside him and slides it under his back. In the process, bringing her face up against his, their cheeks touching as she moves the pillow into what she hopes is a comfortable position. He relaxes against the pillow and she slides back.

_What has gotten into her, she wouldn't look me in the eye yesterday morning when this happened, but then again she said she didn't mind, which is her way of saying she liked cuddling, but Kensi would never say those words, that's what she meant though, I think, God, why is she so hard to read..._ She sees his mind racing, she smiles in the way that she knows he loves and places her hands behind his neck, pulling herself up a little so that their faces are almost touching. His arms come around her waist, but she can see he is now the one with a wall up.

_He is so afraid to move right now. Okay so messing with his head may not be the nicest way to do this but it's definitely fun. Okay, Kensi, you can do this. Why am I so nervous around him? I've never hesitated this long with another guy. Okay breath, one, two, three._

He's studying her eyes, she's definitely confusing him. Part of her seems to want to back away, and the other part seems like she's forcing herself to stay on top of him. _No, don't push her, you'll know when she's ready to move to the next step, maybe in a few weeks, or months, maybe never. Just enjoy what she's giving you now. _

She feels him relax, just like she knew he would. He thinks this is all she wants, he starts stroking her hair with one hand. She finally does it, before he even knows what is happening. She leans in, lips finally coming in contact. He jumps and tries to pull back, but she knew he would. She keeps him close with the hands already behind his neck.

_What does she want me to do? She likes it when I mess with her hair, yeah, that's a good idea. _He starts stroking the long curls, _Wha..woah what...,_it takes him about a second to realize what is happening and he stops resisting, _did she actually just kiss me, yeah I was thinking about it, but no, I didn't move in. _

He finally starts kissing her back. The groan she lets out as he pulls her so close she can barely breath surprises her as much as him. He starts to sit up, not loosing contact, she lets him move this time, still holding on to the back of his neck where her fingers are now sliding into his hair. She adjusts herself as he moves, neither of them completely conscious of what the rest of their bodies are doing anymore. He is now sitting up straight and she is straddling his lap, her legs wrapping around his waist. They break contact for the first time, they look each other in the eyes, hers pleading for more.

_Deeks don't get ahead of yourself. It's two in the morning and the last thing you want is to make her run out before tomorrow morning, when you'll need her to be at you're side when you sign the paper._ He's never seen her like this, she apparently has different ideas than him though. She pulls him back into the kiss and lets her hands slip underneath his shirt. She feels him jump a little at the touch of her hands but doesn't budge.

_Come on Deeks, I know I tease you about being a gentleman but just give in for once._ He doesn't seem to get the message, so she pulls away and looks into his eyes a she grabs his hands, guiding them up her legs, across her jeans and up to where her shirt meets her belt. She looks him in the eye and smiles, and he gets the message. What guy wouldn't.

"Kens, you sure you want to do this?" He doesn't want to make her feel pressured into anything, especially this.

"Yeah, I'm sure" she replies, a devious look in her eyes. She launches herself back at him, going back to her previous coarse of action. Her hands slide under his shirt and she feels his well defined muscles under her hands. He gasps as her tongue slips into her mouth finally taking that as the signal. His hands slide up her back slowly, causing her to arch into the touch. He doesnt miss the shiver as he traces the curve from her hip up to where her bra is.

She starts shifting her weight on him and it's becoming very difficult for him to keep control. He surprises her and flips her onto her back, being careful not to put too much weight on her, without breaking contact. He wants to do it so bad but knows he shouldn't. Not now. He pulls his hands out from under her shirt and pulls hers out from under his. He holds both of her hands, interlocking their fingers as he lightly kisses her lips one last time before pulling away. She looks at him, almost begging him to come back.

"Kens, you know I want to do it just as much as you, but I think it's too soon. We can't afford to base our _thing_ around this." She knows what he means, and doesn't want to admit it, but knows he's right. They only officially said they have a _thing_ less than 24 hours ago, but in a way they've been together for almost a year. "I don't want us to have a relationship based around sex, Kens. Especially since we are going to have a baby here tomorrow. I want more than just a _thing_ Kensi, I want us to have a _real **relationship, **_and I know you do too."

She looks at him, confused, how can he be so positive. He sees what she's thinking "remember the day I wouldn't let you fire my gun, and we were still going at it when we got back to the bullpen, well you said '_at this point in our relationship, after all the stuff that we've done,' _and then I cut you off. I wanted you to admit then that we had one, but you changed it and said you said partnership. I knew you thought of it as more than that since then."

She looks at him, stunned, he lies down beside her and as she moves into his arms, she can't believe he read that.

"You know most guys wouldn't have even caught that slip, and if they did, they wouldn't have thought much of it." she says looking into his eyes.

"Guess I'm a little different from most guys." he watches her study his face. Her stomach is still filled with little butterflies as they lay there, but somehow she falls asleep, him stroking her hair. She didn't even know she liked people touching her hair until he started.

She wakes up, the bed next to her empty. _Was that seriously a dream? No, it couldn't have been, could it?_ All doubts are erased when he walks in from the bathroom, noticing she's awake.

"Hey, morning sunshine." His voice soft and caring, not his usual tone in the morning. "I didn't want to wake you up until I had to, you can get a shower when your ready, I figured we could go get breakfast before packing up and heading over to the courthouse." Glancing at the alarm clock, she sees it's only 8:03. She sits up, remembering that in a few hours they will officially be parents.

She still can't say that she will be the "m word" in a few hours, but she knows Deeks will be a good da... no she cant even do that. She takes a quick shower and is downstairs in half an hour, wearing a simple t shirt and one of her green jackets with her dark jeans she had stowed in her go-bag.

She still didn't feel like going through the boxes that she noticed had been moved from the middle of the living room to behind the stairs. She smiles without thinking about it when she sees him waiting, leaning on the island in the kitchen.

He smiles realizing that her walls are still down. She's never smiled at him just because he was there. He takes her hand and they still have over five hours until they need to be at the courthouse. He drives them to his favorite little diner.

"Mr. Marty!" a little girl screams as they walk in the door of the diner. Kensi gives him a questioning glance but he shrugs giving her the_ I'll explain it later_ look. A man and woman come out from the kitchen. The man looks like he's around thirty five and the woman looks a little younger. She has blonde wavy hair like the little girl that's now in Deeks' arms. The little girl has beautiful blue eyes unlike either of them but definitely looks more like the woman. There isn't much resemblance between her and the man at all but she shrugs, she didn't look like much like her mom, so it wasn't that strange. The man hugs Deeks and they act like they've known each other their entire lives.

"Go, sit, I'll bring you out the usual?" obviously he had been here many times. Deeks nods placing the little girl down on the ground. She runs to follow who Kensi assumes to be her parents into the kitchen. They sit in the corner booth with a circular, surprisingly comfortable, leather bench. The diner looks like it's been here since the sixties or seventies. The bright red leather on the seats, checkerboard pattern on the floor, and the chrome accents everywhere kind of give that away.

"I met Cheryl and Rob the night before I had to tell you I was fired."

_Why does everything have to remind me of that day? It was one of the worst days of my life! Almost as bad as when my dad died, and hurt just as much as when Jack left._ She nods taking his hand as she slides over around the bench towards him, the curve of the seat allows them to still be slightly facing each other even when they are only sitting about eight inches apart.

"I was upset and came in here, I don't think I was even trying to come here, I just pulled in and figured I was just hungry." He laughs a little. "Sarah, the little girl, seemed to see right through me, it's funny how little kids can tell when something's wrong." He looks up at her.

"You always know when something's bothering me." spoken so softly, he's not sure he heard her.

"Yeah, well I know you better than I've ever known anyone else." He replies smiling, not missing how her cheeks blush just the tiniest bit.

"Anyway, I came in and sat down over here, and was thinking about how much I'd hurt you and trying to find a way to tell you how sorry I was." She sees the pain in his eyes, just thinking about what he did.

"Hey," she waits for him to make eye contact. "It wasn't your fault. You followed your orders." She is using her soft voice he's only heard a couple times, all within the past two days. She squeezes his hands urging him to continue.

"She slid into the booth and looked at me with those eyes. She asked me why I was sad, and why I was by myself." he smiles at this memory. "I've never talked to anyone about my work but I figured, she was only, what, like five, and she wouldn't remember it the next day anyway. I told her how I was a police officer, which wasn't exactly a lie, and that my boss told me I had to tell my best friend something that I didn't want to and I knew it was going to hurt her feelings." Kensi smiles, thinking how he is really great with kids, and how she should be fine with the baby as long as he is there to help. He laughs a little before continuing. "I definitely underestimated her. She looks at me and says 'if you are her best friend, she won't get mad. Best friends don't stay mad at each other. My best friend took my favorite pink crayon, but I'm not mad at her anymore. If people like each other, they get over it. Usually what happened isn't bad enough to make one of them run away from the other.' I felt like I was talking to an adult. She climbed into my lap and said everything was going to be fine as long as I was nice to my friend when she found out I lied."

"You forgot the part where we ate ice cream!" a little voice from the table behind them makes them both jump a little.

"Hi, Sarah!" He says, changing from a serious conversation to what he is trying to make a fun one. "how long were you there?"

"Since you sat down." Sarah walks to the left side of the booth and scoots over until she's right next to Kensi, much to her surprise. She leans over to Kensi motioning with her little hand for her to bend down. Sarah whispers into her ear,

"So are you still best friends?"

Kensi smiles at the little girl, "Yeah, you're right, you can't stay mad at a best friend." Sarah gets up and walks around to Deeks who is sitting on the outside.

"Are you on a date?" Sarah asks, noticing Deeks is still holding one of Kensi's hands on her knee.

"Uh, not really." Deeks says still amazed that this little kid could pick up on things like that. She would make a great NCIS agent, she must watch people who come in, surely cartoons and coloring books would get boring. What is he thinking? The girl's only six! Sarah looks at him with the same expression he's gotten from Kensi many times. Kensi notices too and smiles. The all-too-familiar, one-eyebrow-up, _I don't believe you_ look.

"We just moved and don't have any breakfast food at the new house yet." Kensi explains.

"You're not married." Sara states this catching both adults off guard. Apparently she had noticed there wasn't a ring on Kensi's finger.

"No, we're not," Kensi hesitates, not knowing how much the little girl would understand. Deeks looks at her and silently tells her to tell the whole story. "

Well, as much as I like it when you come here, Mr. Marty, you've never brought anyone with you so..." She looks at them, now leaning against the table, arms crossed. (actually, the way she's standing, turned sideways, the table barely comes to her elbows) But he's also seen Kensi stand this way almost every day of her life while at OSP against his or her desk. Recently she'd been near his more often. Deeks smiles at this, why hadn't he noticed before that Sarah was like a mini Kensi? Maybe that's why she's so easy to talk to.

Sarah looks at Kensi, noticing Deeks is now thinking about something else.

"Well, yesterday we found out that our friend" she looks at Deeks just making sure she would be okay. He nods and she continues. "we found out she died."

Kensi looks up at the little girl who is now sliding back into the booth and climbing onto her lap. Kensi wraps her arms around the little girl and Sarah looks at Deeks. Sarah starts shifting so she can try to sit between them, but pauses, not wanting to leave Kensi's lap. Kensi reads the little girl's thoughts and slides herself over to Deeks, who at this point is trying not to smile at the gesture. Sarah leans into Kensi's right shoulder and arm and puts her legs over Deeks' right leg so she is sort of sitting on both of them. Deeks puts his arm around Kensi, lightly at first, expecting her to either give him the death glare, or pull back.

She instead decides to surprise him, again, and leans into him, closing what was left of the gap between them. They are now touching from shoulder to foot, Kensi's foot finding it's way behind his so that the angle of her foot and ankle fit right above his heel. Sure, he would expect her to do this when they were alone, but this was the first time she had shown her feelings towards him in public. He's not quite sure what those feelings even are, but he likes how they're making him feel right now. He has two of his favorite girls in the world, both practically sitting on his lap. He's pulled back to reality when Kensi continues with the story.

"Our friend, she had a baby, and she said if she died, she wanted us to take care of her." Kensi's still surprised the little girl isn't freaked out by the story. "So, we decided to move in together yesterday, it's easier for us both to take care of her this way. Our apartments were too small and too far apart for us to both be able take care of her. So we moved into a bigger house yesterday, it's a few blocks away from here."

Sarah's eyes light up. "Can I come over to see the baby sometime, Mr. Marty?" She uses her killer puppy eyes on him. Making him laugh.

"Yeah, maybe after we get settled in." Deeks says with a smile.

"Okay, so what next?" Sarah turns back to Kensi. "Well, we're going to the courthouse today to sign some papers so we can bring her home." Sarah seems to understand everything and Kensi is starting to understand what Deeks meant about feeling like he was talking to an adult.

"Can I tell you a story now?" Sarah asks them. Kensi isn't sure what's going to come out of her mouth. "Of course, sweety." Kensi says looking at the child in admiration. Deeks squeezes her shoulders and whispers in her ear.

"You say your not good with kids, but she's sitting on your lap and your not nervous at all." She realizes he's right and waits for Sarah to begin her story. But the little girl surprises them both again, saying something they would expect to come from someone way beyond her years.

"Awww, you two are really cute together though. Are you sure your not _together_?" They look at her then at each other.

"I guess we kind of have a _thing_" Deeks tells her. Not breaking eye contact with Kensi.

"I knew it!" Sarah says excitement in her voice. She becomes serious as she begins her story. "I never told you this," she starts looking at Deeks now. "But Cheryl and Rob aren't my real mom and dad." they both look at the little girl waiting for her to continue. "my mom and dad died in a car accident when I was two. Cheryl and Rob are my aunt and uncle. Cheryl was my mom's sister. I came to live with them after that and have been here since." she looks at the adults, who are looking at her like she just told them the most incredible story ever.

Kensi surprises Deeks by reaching down and pulling the little girl up into a hug. So Sarah's head is on her shoulder by Deeks' hand. She whispers to her "My dad died in a car accident too, I was fifteen. I haven't seen or heard of my mom since a couple years before that. The last I know she was headed to Boston." She feels the little arms wrap around her tighter. She still knows that her dad wasn't killed by a car, but doesn't want to go that deep right now.

When the food comes out Kensi's not hungry anymore. She feels full from the love around her. Maybe a baby was what she needed. Sarah unwraps herself from Kensi and looks up at her relatives.

"Come, Sarah, let them eat." Rob holds out his hand.

"No, she can stay." Kensi quickly replies. They shrug and walk away. The girls are looking at each other and Deeks feels like he missed something.

"What about your mom and dad Mr. Marty?" Deeks realizes Kensi must have told her about her parents.

"Well, my mom died right before I went to college, and my dad died a couple years ago." Sarah moves over to give him a hug now.

"You know that your baby will love you like you are her parents, right? I started calling them Mom and Dad when I was about four, so for two years now. I realized that your mom and dad don't have to be the same as your mother and father. If they love you and take care of you the way parents should, then they are your mom and dad." She gives them both a hug and slides out of the booth.

"She's the most amazing little girl I've ever met." Kensi says in awe.

"She reminds me of you, and there's a little Hetty in there too, with all that talking." she smiles, having noticed the same thing.

They eat their breakfast quickly, noticing they talked to Sarah longer than they thought. They pay for their breakfast, and as their almost to the door Kensi feels a little tug on her jacket. She looks down to see Sarah, motioning for her to bend down. Deeks pauses, the door half open.

"When you two get married, can I be the flower girl?" Sarah asks, completely serious.

"Well sweety, if it ever happens, yes, you can. But don't get your hopes up I don't see that happening right now." Kensi gives her a quick hug and stands up.

"Oh, I know it will happen. And sooner than you think." Sarah says, making Kensi smile.

They drive back to the house to get a few things before going downtown. It's already after ten.

Kensi grabs the diaper bag and packs it with everything Nell had in hers. "Do we need to bring clothes?" She asks Deeks.

"Well I don't think they'll be handing her to us in her birthday suit, but it wouldn't be a bad idea to pack some, just in case something happens to what she's wearing." Kensi nods, packs everything, probably more than she needs, but wants to be on the safe side. Just as she finishes packing the bag, the phone rings.

"Hello?" Deeks grabs it from right under her hand. She gives him her annoyed look, but he just smiles knowing she doesn't really mean it anymore. The familiar voice of Hetty comes through the earpiece.

"Mr. Deeks, after your finished up at the courthouse, I need you to come in. We need to further discuss what we did yesterday. Have you told Kensi yet?"

"No, I haven't. I will though here soon. just have to find the right time."

"Keeping it a surprise, ah I see, well I won't tell her, but I need to talk to her too." He hands the phone to Kensi, mouthing _Hetty, _as he does.

"Hello?" She asks anyway.

"Hello Kensi, I just informed Mr. Deeks that I expect you over here immediately after you acquire the custody of little miss Michaela. We have some matters to discuss before your leave."

"Yes, I understand." Kensi replies as she would on an op, and Hetty notices.

"Miss Blye, you're not undercover, this is your life, be excited, be nervous. Oh, and you don't actually have to be at the courthouse until 2:30. I wouldn't tell Mr. Deeks that though, since he seems to end up being about thirty minutes late for everything. Goodbye." Kensi tries not to smile at how Hetty even accounted for the fact that Deeks was always late.

"We probably need to look half-decent at the courthouse." she says, finally breaking the silence. Deeks groans as they head toward the steps. They start looking in boxes, sorting theirs into somewhat organized stacks, there's not much room to move, and the boxes quickly surround them. Kensi looks at Deeks, opening boxes just enough to see if he recognises what's inside, if he does, he might open it and look for something, if not he quickly closes it and puts it in her stack.

She smiles at this. He's still Deeks, being a gentleman, not wanting to even look past the first layer of my stuff, even if we're living in the same house now. She walks up behind him and puts her arms around his waist, bringing her chin up to rest on his shoulder, something she can't do without her heeled boots on. He jumps, startled at the sudden touch he wasn't expecting.

He gets an idea and smiles at the thought of it. Deeks turns around and picks her up so fast she doesn't have time to put a wall up. Instead, she giggles. She wraps her legs around his waist, trying not to put all of her weight on his arms. Her arms are around his neck and she bends her head down so their foreheads are touching.

"Did Kensi Blye, tough, kick-ass, NCIS special agent, Kensi Blye just giggle?" He asks, amusement in his eyes and the goofy smile on his face.

She smiles. "No, _**this**_ Kensi just did. I'm not in the office now Marty, _I'm yours."_ She whispers the last two words in his ear.

He puts her down on the ground and looks at her in disbelief. "Did you really just call me _Marty_?" a grin spreads across his face, but she can see it's not his normal, goofy grin he uses when he's joking. He was genuinely happy about the fact she'd just used his first name. And she can see it touched him.

"Yes I did, _Marty,_ God, that sounds weird, but, remember in a few hours, there'll be _two_ Deeks' in this house."

"Yes there will, and maybe someday three..." he pauses she looks really confused for a second, then at the realization of what he just said, she opens her mouth to say something but nothing comes out and the look of shock takes over. "or maybe more?" he adds smiling. She looks at him as if he's lost his mind, but sees he's completely serious.

"Hey, we don't even have two here yet, don't get too far ahead of yourself." her cheeks start to turn a light pink but she quickly calms down, hopefully he didn't notice, it wasn't lit as well under the stairs. He sees she's trying to put up a wall but doesn't want to because deep down, he _knows_ she likes the idea. He pulls her in close and puts his mouth to her ear.

"I didn't hear you say you didn't want that to happen, I'll remember that." He whispers lightly, kissing her jawline, making her inhale sharply at the sensation. He pulls back and looks into her eyes, he was expecting either a glare, confusion, or something along the lines of saying _you're an idiot_, but instead he finds a soft and surprisingly loving gaze. She nods at him.

_Woah, what just happened? Did he just ask me to marry him __**and**__ have kids with him? Did I seriously just sort of say yes to that? Okay, breathe, see what happens when you don't over-analyze? You do things you may regret._ But she doesn't think she'll regret the nod of approval to his plans.

"It's nice, having this between us." she says in the soft voice he'd never heard before this chaos. He looks at her confused. "Like you said last night, it's nice having something other than just sex between us, we really care about each other and if something happened to one of us, both of us would be hurt by it." She smiles up at him, knowing he knows that she means every word she's saying. He doesn't say anything, so she continues.

"I haven't felt like this about anyone, ever, not even about Jack." She sees him wince at the name, knowing he felt the pain Jack had caused her, maybe not as much as she felt, but it was nice to know someone could care that deeply about her feelings, so deep that they felt the pain she felt, the happiness, the nervousness.

"I know we're not under what most people would call "_normal"_ circumstances, but, I think this could work out just fine."

Deeks kisses her forehead and then presses their heads together so that their foreheads and noses are touching. He sees tears starting to form at the corners of her eyes and doesn't have time to think of something comforting to say before she says **the **most surprising thing ever to leave her mouth.

"I... I love you Marty, and I don't want you to be _anywhere_ other than where I am. I need you." a single tear falls down her cheek and he instinctively wipes it away.

He knows just how much those words mean. She doesn't let herself love anyone because she thinks they'll hurt her, just like everyone she's loved in the past has. Her dad didn't hurt her intentionally, but her mother, Jack, loosing Dom, and now loosing her one of her closest friends has left her afraid to love.

"Kens," He pauses, trying to keep the lump in his throat at bay along with the tears he's struggling to hold back. "Princess, I will never leave you, I need you too."

He sees her trying not to be disappointed by the fact that he didn't repeat the three words she wanted to hear more than anything.

"And I've always loved you, and always will. Don't you ever doubt that for one second." He kisses her nose and she can see that he's trying not to cry. She wraps her arms around him in a hug, knowing he wouldn't want her to see the tears. They let go and stand looking at each other, both of them are smiling with their eyes still glistening with unshed tears.

She laughs a little as she says, "I can't believe _we_ of all people are the ones with the extremely emotional relationship."

"Do you realize how far we've come in one day? You let your guard down and cuddled up to me _in public_, you said _we_, stressing that you meant both of us, you finally said _relationship,_ and you said three words that I wasn't expecting for at _least_ a few months, if at all." He looks at her with admiration, she knows he's not mocking her, he's complimenting her strides.

She leans into his shoulder and whispers, "You forgot about earlier this morning, around two am. I'd like to get back to that sometime, you know." She gives him a seducing smile over her shoulder as she walks away.

He chuckles, he has discovered more about her in two days than in almost two years of them working together. _Wonder what other things I'll find out once there's a baby in the picture?_ He's thoughts are interrupted.

"Found my clothes!" She exclaims excitedly.

"You haven't found yours yet?"

"No, I found them a while ago, but didn't want to leave you." he grins and she lightly slaps his chest before kissing him on the cheek.

"And what was that for?" He asks eying her with amusement.

"For being you." She smiles sweetly and he picks up both of their boxes and carries them upstairs.

"You know I could have carried that myself." she tells him still smiling.

_I don't think I've ever seen her smile this much before._ He thinks to himself. "I know." he says making her smile even more. "Wait right there." he says as he runs out of the room. Then he calls from downstairs, "On second thought, come down here." She walks down to him and looks at him cautiously, not sure what he's up to. "I know this is kind of a sappy thing, but we should take a picture before we are officially parents." He holds up his camera.

"Okay." she shrugs, usually the woman would be the one to think of that, she knows, but she also knows Marty's a little different from most guys, he even said so himself.

"Come on!" he takes her hand and drags her out to the beautiful pool, he moves her into position.

"Okay, the camera will take a picture ten seconds after I press the button, and will take sequential pictures for fifteen seconds, totaling sixty shots." He sets the camera on the table adjusting it so it's pointing the right way, the back light is balanced, and the zoom is perfect.

He presses the button and goes to her side, the camera starts clicking and for a second they just smile, then look at each other and come into their favorite embrace, and then he whispers in her ear, "Hetty called me into her office yesterday to tell me she had the papers for me to become an official NCIS agent. I signed them, look" He pulls out the badge and ID he had grabbed while she was still upstairs.

She forgets about the camera and he sees the shock on her face. The shock creeps into a smile and before he knows it they are standing in their favorite position again, his arms around her waist, her arms around his neck, she just smiles at him for a second or two, then they both lean simultaneously to kiss. They press their bodies against each other her hands now in his hair and his arms separated, one still at her waist, the other stroking her hair. The _ding ding ding_ of the camera as it takes its last two seconds of shots pulls them apart so they are just looking into each others eyes.

"I want to see those pictures now." she says smiling. They walk up to the table and his arm is still around her waist as he picks up the camera, her left hand still on his back, she reaches with her right hand so she can see the screen better, leaning into him at the same time. He flips through the pictures and stops at the one where she realized what he had just told her.

"Is that the real reason for the pictures, you wanted to get my reaction on camera?" She looks up at him with one eyebrow up, but a much softer expression in her eyes.

"Yeah, that and I really did want pictures of us before we have a kid." She looks back at the camera and smiles as she sees what they look like.

"We do look "so cute together", as Sarah phrased it.

"Yeah I guess we do, what do you think Sam and Callen say if they saw this one?" He says as he gets to their embrace.

"I don't know." She looks at him.

"Well they definitely would have comments about these. He says as he gets to the kiss."

"Yeah, but I like those." He smiles at her comment.

He gets to the last couple pictures of them just gazing into each others eyes with what could only be described as love in their eyes.

"I think that one's my favorite though." she says resting her head against his shoulder.

"Maybe we could get some frames on the way there?" He suggests.

"Okay, but that means we have to leave in like, fifteen minutes." She looks up at him and they head back into the house.

* * *

><p>"Let's go!" He says actually ready earlier than she anticipated. "Wow." He says as he sees her. She's wearing a pair of black pants, and a white tank top under a vest that doesn't even cover her shoulders. Only the bottom two buttons of the vest are buttoned, leaving the top open showing the low cut tank top. "How the hell do you do that?" He asks as she proceeds in pulling her hair back into her usual ponytail.<p>

She looks at him in the mirror, "What?"

"Manage to look hotter in dress clothes than in one of the dresses Hetty makes you wear."

She sees her face turning red in the mirror, but he just comes up behind her and puts his hands on the edge of the counter so that his arms are almost touching her hips and resting his head on her shoulder. "You don't have to be embarrassed if someone compliments you Kensi, your beautiful, and you shouldn't be embarrassed about it." He sees her smile in the mirror as she finishes straightening her bangs to the side. He'd never thought of how she must do her hair in the mornings until now. He'd never actually seen her do it before. She takes the last bobby pin from the counter and puts it in her hair, securing the last few fly-a ways.

She turns around but he doesn't move, he gives her the goofy smile she knew would be coming sometime soon, it'd been a while since he'd used it. "Password." He says, not letting her move.

A few days ago she probably would have punched him in the shoulder and told him to stop acting like a child, and she could see he was still half expecting that, but instead she leans in and kisses him on the lips softly.

"Password accepted."he says as she pulls her head back and looks at him, with her dressier boots that had a slightly higher heel, they were almost eye level. He didn't have shoes on yet though so that probably evened them out a little more.

He moved one of his arms but she doesn't move. She eyes him up and down.

"Who would have known Marty Deeks actually owns collared shirts that aren't casual cotton or plaid?"

"I always knew you loved me in dress clothes." He grins at her. She looks at him, clearly confused. "Fern." He smiles as she realizes, just by that simple name, the night he was referring to. She apparently likes what she sees, because she can't stop looking him over, and he remembers the way he caught her looking at him when they were at the club with Callen and the name Fern had become her alias. He'd pretended not to notice at the time.

He's not too dressed up, a simple white collared shirt and black dress pants. Not casual work clothes, not too formal either. They look like anyone else going to a courthouse to sign custody papers.

They go into the nursery and Kensi grabs the already packed diaper bag. "God, this thing must weigh thirty pounds." she states. He reaches for it to take it for her but she shakes her head. "No, muscle man, you get to take that stroller that you insisted on assembling upstairs." He smiles and takes the diaper bag anyway, putting it in the seat their baby will sit in when she's big enough.

She gives him her little half smile as she grabs the car seat and she follows him down the steps. Somehow he manages the stroller down, and turns and takes the car seat out of her hand.

She shakes her head. "Marty, don't take this the wrong way, but how the hell are you such a perfect gentleman when you grew up in the area you did?" She looks at him with slight amusement and admiration.

"I can't take anything the wrong way when you start out by saying my first name." He kisses her cheek and whispers, "I'm different from most guys, I already told you that." Leaving another kiss on her temple, he takes her hands and they just look in each others eyes for a good minute or two.

"We should probably start loading the car." She says reluctantly.

"Yeah, we still have to go get the picture frames you want too." he smiles at her and she continues to smile back. _God, I really, really,hope that smile doesn't disappear when the baby comes into the picture._

He wrestles with the stroller, finally getting it to fold down to put into Kensi's Mercedes SUV. "Wow, the mom's at the supermarket make that look so easy." he says as he looks at the stroller in the trunk. The purple stroller looked less cute by the second as he realized he was going to have to unfold that and redo it again every time they went in and out of somewhere. Little pink and blue dragonflies had never looked so annoying.

"I think we have everything, Kens." He smiles as he says this, she's going through the diaper bag for the fourth time since he started putting the stroller in the back.

"I don't want to forget anything!" She looks at him and he spreads his arms out, she walks into the hug she didn't know she even needed. _Why am I so stressed? Oh yeah, we will have a baby in less than two hours. _

They walk back inside and look around the house, knowing the next time they enter the doors, they will be parents.

"Ready to go get _**our **_baby?" he asks, excitement in his eyes. She takes a deep breath and meets his eyes.

"Ready as I'll ever be." They smile, he grabs the car seat, and they walk out the door, fingers intertwined.


	3. Surprises and a Little Pink Blanket

Deeks pulls out of the garage, "When exactly did you decide you liked me driving your car?" he gives her a questioning glance.

She replies in the soft, caring voice, he's sure she reserves just for him. "I don't know, somewhere between us deciding to go through parenthood together, and when you said we did have a "thing"."

He smiles at this, but knows he can't say smart remarks when she is off guard, as much as he wants to say something along the lines of how she just is using him as a chauffeur, or that she just can't hold back anymore and is too emotional all the time to be able to drive. He bites his tongue. It wouldn't be unusual for him to say that at OSP, she would want him too. She doesn't want the guys knowing about them yet.

He finally breaks the silence as they head down their street. They're on the end of the cal-DE-sac neither of them familiar with being surrounded by other houses, it was nice that they had a little more room between their house and their neighbors.

"I've never had a forbidden relationship before," she cuts him off not noticing she does so.

"It's not forbidden, nobody's told us we can't." she replies defensively.

"That's not what I meant, I meant I've never had to keep a relationship a secret, and you know I'm not very good at keeping secrets. You've probably noticed but I kinda have a big mouth." She smiles and punches his shoulder lightly.

He turns serious as they stop at a stop sign and turns to look at her. "But I'm willing to keep my mouth shut for you if you don' t want them to know." She nods her head taking in his words. They meant a lot.

_He really is in love with me, I mean I know I saw the look in his eyes when he said it, I know how I felt when I said it, even though I still can't believe I did, but him promising something, something he doesn't have to do, but he wants to because he cares about me, wow. _

He watches her process what he just said, looking down at her hands. Someday she'll have a ring on that finger, and he hopes, no, he _knows_, it will be from him. Neither of them had actually said it, it was too early, but he had implied and she had nodded, seeing her face, they were obviously thinking the same thing.

She reaches for his hand that's resting on the console, and squeezes it, bringing him back from his memories. "What?" he asks her giving her a look she wouldn't admit makes her smile every time she sees it.

_I love that face, questioning, yet caring, concerned, loving, wow, why didn't we start this earlier?_

"What?" She replies, half laughing, "Does there have to be a reason for me to hold my boyfriend's hand?" He grins and squeezes back. They don't talk the rest of the ride, they don't have to.

They arrive at Wall-Mart and she looks at him as he lets go of her hand grabbing it again. She obviously wasn't paying attention, off in her own little world.

"I have to let go to get out of the car Princess." She nods a little embarrassed, but not too much because he obviously liked her reaction.

He unbuckles his seat belt and is out of the car before she's even unbuckled herself. She does and then reaches for the door, but he beat her to it. She smiles and takes his hand as she gets out of the car, him still standing there holding the door.

"Alright, my night in shining Armour, what now?" She asks amusement in her eyes.

"Wherever the Princess desires." He says smiling, but she senses the seriousness of the statement. It registers they're still standing in the parking lot of Wall-Mart, but she doesn't even care. She leans in to kiss him but he pulls back after a second, shutting the passenger door in the process.

"There's children here Kens, let's not scar them for life." He smiles at her and she knows he's joking but two can play at that game.

"Hmmm, don't want to scar children with our displays of affection. I'll remember that later when we have a baby." She gives him her devious smile and turns on her heels to walk into the store. His hand flies instinctively around her waist, surprising her.

"Don't do that okay, don't walk away from me like that." he says pulling her back against his chest then letting go and finding her hand.

She turns around and looks at him, "Sorry, Marty, I was just kidding." She says regretfully. She really hadn't meant to hurt him or scare him.

"It's okay, but don't do it again. Even if you are kidding, don't walk away from me like that." they're walking out from between the cars, he's behind her.

She turns and looks at him when they get out from between the cars. He sees a look in her eye, one that only can be described as happiness. Knowing he wasn't going to run away like the others.

He senses this and gives her a quick hug, wanting to do more, but can't, not in a parking lot.

They walk into the store, still holding hands.

"Hmmm, I think picture frames are that way." she follows him still holding his hand, interlocking their fingers. He smiles as she does this.

Picking out a picture frame wasn't easy, but he knew it wouldn't be. She finally settles on a frame that holds five pictures, one spot for each of her favorites.

It's relatively large, but not heavy, but the awkward edges meant and he has to carry it with both hands, hers feels empty without his in it. But instead of guiding her to the register, he leads her to the back of the store, she thinks he must've thought of something else they needed for the baby.

"Why are we here?" she asks, now noticing they're in the photo center.

"Well, since we're in a photogenic mood today, and we both are kinda dressed up, I figured now would be a good time to get a _real_photo taken." She smiles at him. He doesn't have to do this but knows she likes the idea, so he did it anyway. "That and your chance of getting me into dress clothes again anytime soon are pretty slim." They walk in and he fills out some paperwork.

They enter the room and the photographer instructs them to stand different in different positions. They finish and look at the pictures on the computer screen.

"I like that one." She says pointing to the one he knew she would like. She was on his back and they both had real smiles on their faces, not those fake ones that you always see in these types of photographs.

"Me too." He smiles looking at her. They go through and select the black and white option. It looked great and the fact they were already in black and white clothes made it look even better.

"Close your eyes." He says as he gets to the size selection. She does as told and he clicks the fifty by sixty inch photo with a black border. He knows exactly where this is going. In the giant open space above the mantle, it would be the first thing anyone saw walking into their house.

He finishes the process, and looks at her, she had just turned so her back was to the screen and was watching as the photographer snapped photos of a baby, probably the first pictures the baby's had taken, he rubs her shoulders and she looks over her shoulder at him.

"We'll bring her here soon." he tells her, if her smile doesn't answer him, her eyes definitely do.

They pay for the picture frame and the photo and are almost to the car when Kensi groans.

"What did I do?" He looks at her questioning her sudden outbreak. She gives him an amused look and he relaxes knowing he didn't do anything.

"Nothing, I just remembered I meant to grab some food while we were in there and completely forgot."

"So we put the stuff in the car and head back in, what's the matter?" He adds the last part noticing her eyes changed and now she looked, annoyed? Nervous? Somewhat uneasy?

"Nothing." she answers shortly as he unlocks the car and places the picture frame inside.

He takes her hands and looks at her. "It's something." he says still holding eye contact.

She exhales, frustrated that he never let her go when something was bothering her. "I'm not used to not being on top of everything, little things like this are starting to happen more and more, I don't know, I'm just not sure how I feel about the sudden change of..." He puts his finger on her lips like he had when she was trying to apologize about Ava.

"Shhh... It's okay, Kens. You don't have to be Wonder Woman all the time. You're perfect to me, even when you forget a couple things, I tend to have that affect on people." He gives her a goofy smile as he felt her lips curve into a grin at the mention of calling her Wonder Woman like he had in the hospital.

They don't say anything more but he pulls her into him as they head back into the store, his hand around her waist.

They grab the basics, peanut butter, jelly, bread, bagels, her favorite hazelnut spread, cereal, and milk.

"I guess we can live off breakfast food for a week. He says noticing that's basically all they bought." She smiles at his comment.

He drives them to the courthouse, noticing that with every passing minute, she tenses more. He reaches his arm over and strokes her hair lightly, noticing she calmed slightly at the touch, but still seemed nervous.

They don't really say anything the rest of the ride. His hand comes to a rest on her shoulder, massaging it lightly.

He parks her car and they get out of the car. He puts his arm around her shoulder, knowing she wouldn't want too big of a sign of affection around fellow cops, knowing there would be a couple he would know from his time at the LAPD present.

The process is relatively smooth, the fact of not having to discuss whether or not to change her last name was skipped, she already was a Deeks.

The documents state that they also have the right to claim any personal belongings of Hanna-Rose before they were donated to charity, they both smile at this, knowing Hanna-Rose was always a very giving person, and wouldn't have expected any less from her.

They are told they have full access to her house, and only need to contact LAPD for the key when they need it.

Finally, after nearly an hour of paperwork, signing their names so much that they were barely distinguishable as their own signatures, two social service officers bring in the little girl, wrapped in a light pink blanket with little yellow flowers on it.

He smiles seeing the excitement in Kensi's eyes as they handed the baby to her, all her nervousness gone the second she had the baby in her arms, the soft smile on her face.

She looked at him and held the baby out for him to hold her. She was a beautiful baby, dark blonde curls that looked oddly like his were just starting to form on her head.

"She just fell asleep on the way here, she'll be out for a good hour or two." They nod their appreciation at the officers and glance back at the baby.

They are finally free to leave and Deeks hands the baby back to Kensi seeing a momentary flicker of panic on her face.

"Don't worry, I'm just going to pull the car around and then we can head over to OSP." He says giving her a reassuring gaze.

She nods and relaxes, sitting herself on a bench at the bottom of the steps. It was a relatively warm day but she didn't want to take the risk of removing the blanket and waking the baby. The last thing she wanted was to be alone with a screaming baby until Deeks got back.

She rose to her feet carefully as he came around the corner with her car about five minutes after he'd left.

He opens the back door and they start putting her in the car seat, standing much closer than they would have in the past, both trying to make sure the little girl was secure and the small space the door offered didn't give them much room to move.

When they're finally happy everything is adjusted correctly they step back. Deeks looks at Kensi who almost looks reluctant to let the baby out of her sight, even if it's just to walk around to the other side of the car.

Finally peeling her eyes away she backs up allowing Deeks to shut the door. Without looking at him she hurries to her door, remembering they're in a five minute parking zone, and it had to have already been more than that. He slides into his seat after carefully shutting the back door, making sure he wouldn't wake the baby. They both shut their doors lightly and he pulls away from the courthouse.

"So, we officially have a baby." Deeks finally breaks the silence. Kensi looks up at him and gives him her nervous smile.

"Yeah, we do." the smile turning more genuine, and he can't help but take her hand as they pull into the parking garage at OSP.

"Now comes the fun part." He sighs and she looks at him. "The stroller. It's a nightmare to fold and unfold."

"I can try." she says exiting the car and opening the hatch. He get's out of the drivers seat and opens the door behind him. Relieved the baby is still sleeping. He hears a few loud clicks and turns around to Kensi standing with the fully assembled, unfolded baby stroller.

"How'd you do that?" He asks in awe, minding his voice level around the sleeping infant.

"I read the directions on the handle, something you men don't seem to like to do." she says as she smiles sweetly, but also keeping the usual teasing glint in her eye.

He successfully removes the car seat and together they attach it to the stroller. She steps aside letting him push it but never getting more than an arms-length away from the baby.

He notices her protectiveness and notes that she is already in mother mode and it was kind of turning him on. But he remembers those feelings have to stay outside work, or at least until she was ready for them to cross the line.

They enter the familiar building and head towards the bull pen. Sam and Callen look up and notice the stroller, and Deeks puts a finger to his lips giving them the signal to be quiet.

He puts the stroller between their desks and Sam is the first to come take a look.

"She kinda does have your hair Deeks, and Kensi's nose, thankfully."

"What do you mean by that?" Deeks asks defensively.

"He means you've got a big nose Deeks." Callen answers coming up behind them. "Wow, she does actually look like them, you sure you don't want to tell us something?"

Kensi rolls her eyes but knows what their talking about. Michaela could easily pass as their own daughter, she looked eerily like herself, minus the hair that looked like Deeks'. They have yet to see her eyes, but Kensi's not complaining, a quiet baby meant Kensi was happy.

They all look up as Hetty and Lieutenant Bates walk into the bullpen. Hetty lifts an eyebrow at Deeks glancing quickly at Kensi, he nods his head letting her know he'd told her the news.

"Mr. Deeks, Miss Blye, we have some matters to discuss. She holds out some papers to Deeks and he quickly realizes they're the papers he has to sign to officially break off from LAPD. He was already an agent but until he signed the papers, he was still LAPD. He grabs a pen from Kensi's desk, coming into the personal area she doesn't usually allow him in, but seeing the stroller between him and his desk, she doesn't object.

Callen and Sam notice but don't say anything. They're pretty sure something's up, but don't want to stop it. It's not everyday they see Kensi and Deeks comfortable around each other, not fighting.

He quickly scribbles his name, handing the forms back to Hetty, who passes them to Bates.

"Your LAPD weapon and badge, Deeks." Bates says in an emotionless tone. Deeks now walks past Kensi who steps aside allowing him to pass, but not enough room that their arms don't brush.

He doesn't smile at the gesture externally, but on the inside he's grinning ear to ear at the signal she just gave him, knowing their relationship, he would do an equally intimate, but hidden gesture in return. He pulls his Beretta and LAPD badge out of his desk drawer, glancing at them for the last time.

Kensi sees the hesitation in his eyes as he glances at her before handing over his gun. She knows what it means to him and gives him a reassuring smile.

That's when they notice Callen and Sam looking completely confused. Obviously, Hetty hadn't yet informed them of Deeks' change of position. They look at each other and start laughing. Only causing the confused looks to increase.

Deeks pulls his new NCIS badge out of his pocket and tosses it to Callen who's still standing near Sam on the opposite side of the stroller as Kensi, who still won't step away from the baby.

Deeks wishes he had his camera to catch the look on their faces when they see, but glances at Kensi, noticing she has her phone out recording the whole thing on video. Smiling at her he turns back to them.

"When were you going to tell us, Hetty?" Callen asks.

"Well Mr. Callen, officially Mr. Deeks was still LAPD until about a minute ago."

Sam and Callen look at Kensi and Deeks who are now standing, leaning against the narrow side of her desk looking at the baby. They notice they're sitting much closer than usual, hips touching and Deeks' arms supporting him from behind, one hand behind Kensi's back. Her arms are crossed in front of her and they don't look at each other, but even Hetty seems to notice. Bates leaves and they're all now crowding around the stroller, which Kensi moves out to the middle of the bull pen so the growing number of people can all get a good look.

Nell and Eric come down the steps, apparently having seen them arrive but not wanting to intervene with them until Bates left.

"Awwww..." Nell says looking at the baby.

"Woah, she looks just like..." Eric starts but Kensi cuts him off.

"We know."

"Miss Jones, would you look after the baby while I talk to Mr. Deeks and Miss Blye in my office?" Hetty questions, although it was more of an order than a question, Nell nods.

Deeks notices Kensi follow but she glances quickly over her shoulder, just reassuring the baby would be okay.

He leans in to whisper in her ear, "She'll be fine, she's got our team leader, a Navy Seal, one of the best baby sitters, and Eric looking out for her, I don't think she's in danger, plus Sam's a dad. He knows what to do."

She smiles at him knowing he's right, it still was hard to leave her there even though she was only across the room.

"Miss Blye, Mr. Deeks, I would hope you've already set up an appropriate nursery for Miss Michaela?" At their nods she continues. "And I assume the house suits all of your needs?"

"Yeah, I'm afraid to see the monthly payments though."Deeks says smiling but Kensi senses he's being serious.

"Not to worry, the house you're living in was my former residence, but I don't like to stay in one place for too long, so I usually turn them over to NCIS as safe houses, or in your case, as agent housing."

They stare at her in disbelief, they're going to be living in this house that neither of them could dream of being able to afford on their salaries, for nearly nothing?

"Wow, Hetty, I don't know what to say. Thank you." Deeks says.

Kensi leans in so Deeks can't hear. "Consider the debt paid." She says to Hetty who smiles in return.

Deeks wonders what she said but decides he'll ask later.

"I've just spoken to Director Vance." she pauses, their faces become uneasy, not knowing what to expect. "We reached an agreement that you may take as long as you need, paid leave, to adjust to your new schedule. He understands the difficulty of a new baby, having two children of his own and is being very generous. He's sending out some temps to assist Callen and Sam until your return." They both nod and thank her again before heading back to the bull pen.

Their coworkers are still watching the baby, curiosity and softness in their eyes. Deeks wraps an arm around Kensi's shoulder as they stop beside the stroller, Kensi slightly leaning on the handle.

The baby begins to stir and they wait as she opens her eyes.

A simultaneous gasp escapes everyone's lips as they see her eyes flutter open.

The baby has beautiful eyes, but the shocking fact was that one eye was a beautiful hazel and the other was unmistakeably darker, just like Kensi's.

"I didn't see that coming." Deeks finally says as everyone stares at the baby in awe.

"I can't believe it either, I've never met anyone else with a birthmark on their eye, I thought I might just be the only one but now... I mean what are the chances of..." She stops, unable to continue, too shocked to say anything else.

She looks up at Deeks who's smiling at her, she had subconsciously leaned into his shoulder and quickly pulled back in the presence of her coworkers.

_I don't think they noticed, but wow, I can't believe it, she could really be our daughter, with his hair and looking like me in almost every other perspective, but she has Hanna-Rose's ears and mouth, that's for sure._

Michaela starts screaming, Kensi jumps and Deeks smirks at the look of pure panic on her face as he reaches down without thinking about it and picks the baby up.

"She's probably hungry." Nell helps Kensi with the bottle and they all breathe a sigh of relief as she takes the bottle without hesitation.

Eric looks at his touch pad, reluctantly looking up and saying, "guys we have a case." They all hurry upstairs and Kensi and Deeks realize they're alone. Even Hetty seems to have disappeared to who-knows-where.

"You want to hold her?" Deeks asks Kensi as she slides next to him, leaning on the desks so their hips are touching again.

"Nah, you look like you've got it under control." She replies but he sees the little twinge in her eyes that says she does want to.

He hands Michaela over to her and she takes her, watching the little girl eat, Kensi smiles without thinking about it.

"You know, I always wondered what Kensi Blye, Wonder Woman, would look like as a mom." he says noting the eye roll.

"And... what do you think?" she asks teasing him in the slightest way, but also letting him know she wanted to know what he thought.

"I think it's one of the greatest sights I've ever seen." he leans in and kisses her on the cheek, she quickly glances around, relieved to see nobody was close enough to see his little display of affection.

The baby finishes the bottle and Deeks gets up from the desk. He walks over and stands in front of Kensi, way closer than he had in the past while at work. She stands and looks him in the eye, then they both look down at the baby as Kensi shifts her into Deeks' arms. He burps her and thankfully the bib that had covered Deeks shoulder caught the little spit up.

He removes the bib and puts her back in the stroller as her eyes close sleepily.

"So far so good." she remarks, obviously glad the baby didn't seem like it was going to be too difficult to take care of.

_If babies only eat and sleep, we'll be good, although I'm not exactly looking forward to the diapers._

She brushes off the thought as she takes control of the stroller this time, noticing how Deeks' arm slips around her waist the minute they're outside.

"Well apparently someone has trouble keeping their hands to themselves." She remarks, a smile spreading her face letting him know she was joking.

"I think I remember someone else brushing against my arm first in there, then leaning into me?" He asks raising an eyebrow. She groans as he turns the tables on her again, they get to the car and he secures the car seat and shuts the door just as Kensi finishes putting the stroller in the back.

He sneaks around the corner grabbing her around her waist as she let out a little surprised squeal. Then receiving a quick elbow to the ribs as she whipped around to face him. He winced, but relaxed at the feeling of her arms sliping under his and up to his shoulders, her head resting against his chest.

She stands on her toes to lean up to kiss him and just as their lips make contact they hear an all to familiar voice behind them.

"Well, well, well, guess you were right Sam, there is definitely a thing between our fellow agents."

Kensi's back is to Callen and Sam and she surprises Deeks by not shoving him away, she simply lowers herself back on her feet and looks down, putting the top of her forehead against his chest. Finally turning around, sliding a hand down around his waist, she looks at Callen.

"Oh I think it's past a thing, G." Sam says in addition as they reach Sam's challenger that's conveniently parked next to Kensi's Mercedes.

She looks at Deeks then back at their coworkers who seemed to be enjoying themselves, but she knew how to push their buttons.

Surprising Deeks and the guys she leans back up to kiss him. She pulls back and he looks confused but she just smiles at him before turning to Callen and Sam, who now look slightly disgusted after the sign of affection she just portrayed in front of them.

She steps in front of Deeks, leaning her back into him and pulling his arms around her, she looks at Callen and says with a tone Deeks has to hold back the laughter at "You guys are so immature, so what if Marty and I have a 'thing'" she gives them a glare that made even the hardest of criminals crack during interrogation. "I don't see why you can't accept it."

"You two are so cute. You do realize you just called him Marty? Right? Oh, and I think you have Kensi's long lost identical twin sister, Deeks, no way Kensi ever would fall for you."

"Well, maybe someone's just jealous because he's the only one on the team without a kid and another person to come home to." Kensi looks at him, knowing she won and the discussion was over.

She struck a nerve and Callen steps towards them, Kensi noticing he still looks concerned, she steps away from Deeks and gets in the passenger side of the car, leaving Deeks, Callen and Sam to discuss whatever needs to be said.

She angles the mirrors so she can read their lips.

"I don't know what you did with Kensi, but when you come back to work, bring the Kensi we know back with you." Sam's stern voice puts Deeks slightly on edge but he notices they don't seem upset with him.

"And if you hurt her, remember, we protect our own." With Callen's parting words they get into the challenger and drive off, Deeks still thinking about what they just said.

_Did they just say it was okay to be with Kensi? Did she really just kiss me in front of them before attacking Callen with her words? _He shrugs and figures nothing bad came out of it, and now that they didn't have to hide their feelings for each other at work, well they couldn't be all mushy, but the occasional touch wouldn't have to be hidden.

He sits in the car and just as he opens his mouth to tell her what had been said, he notices she's readjusting the mirrors, clearly she had watched and probably used her insanely good lip reading skills to read the conversation.

He smiles at her as he says, "Well, secrets out, any regrets?"

She answers him by leaning across so fast he doesn't have time to flinch, lips colliding and her tongue slipping in his mouth. "Not one little bit." she says confidently against his lips. A minute or two later they pull apart and he sees the look in her eyes he's come to love. A mixture of happiness, love, and excitement.

She puts her hand on his and glances at the baby in the backseat. Her life feels complete, and she didn't even know this is what she wanted.

Arriving back at their house, they unpack the groceries and Kensi carries Michaela inside. She walks around with her for a minute before finally sitting down on the couch as Deeks brought in the rest of their stuff from the day.

Deeks puts the food away in the kitchen before stepping down the small single step that separated the living room from the kitchen and dining room. He sits next to Kensi and puts an arm around her shoulder, smiling as she leaned against him, the warm weight reassuring him of his still cautious actions around her. They watch the baby sleep for a few minutes.

"So, what do you want to do tomorrow?" He asks her.

"I don't know, probably just hang out here and get used to having a baby around."

"Sounds like a plan." He replies grinning, then leaning in to drop a kiss on her cheek, then leaning down to kiss the baby's head.

She starts crying at the touch.

"What did you do?" Kensi asks trying to hand him the baby. He takes her and tries to get her to calm down.

"Nothing, maybe her diaper needs changed." He holds the baby up for Kensi to smell but she backs up and shakes her head in protest, so he does it, crinkling his nose at the stench. "Yep, dirty diaper."

Kensi laughs at his disgusted face and takes the baby who is now turning red. He follows her up the stairs to the nursery. She places the baby on the changing table and they look at each other.

"Get the stuff, I'll start undressing." Kensi instructs him, and he does as told, quickly grabbing a diaper, wipes, and the powder from the cabinet underneath the changing table. She had just unsnapped the last button of the baby's onesie when he placed the supplies on the table. Kensi slides the clean diaper under the baby.

"You do it." She says in a tone not to be argued with. Reluctantly, he pulls the baby's ankles up and undoes the tabs of the diaper.

"God, what did she eat?" He asks, quickly grabbing the wipes Kensi was offering. Quickly cleaning the little girl he removes the dirty diaper and throws it into the special diaper trash can they had bought that claimed it kept the smell from escaping. He hoped it held up to it's word.

Kensi powdered the baby and Deeks finished putting the new diaper on.

"She's gonna need new clothes." Kensi says already heading to the closet.

"Why?" He looks down at the baby and sees the small area of cloth that had somehow come in contact with the dirty diaper. "Oh."

Kensi returned with a pink long sleeved onesie with a purple heart and laughed as she noticed the purple pants had a pink heart on the butt.

"Really, Marty?" She held up the pants.

"What, I thought they were cute." he says defensively.

She sighs as he removes the soiled clothes and they manage to put her in her new clothes.

"Bring the sweater down in case she gets cold." Kensi says as she scoops up the now happy little baby. He smiles as he hears the baby laugh a little as Kensi tickles her belly and talks nonsense to her.

Grabbing the pink and purple cardigan off the table, he follows her downstairs and they head outside, the afternoon sun still pleasantly warm.

"I still can't believe Hetty pretty much gave us this house." Kensi says as they sink into the surprisingly comfortable outdoor sofa.

"Me either, what did you say to her earlier?" He looks at her as she tries to think of whether she should tell him or not.

"Well let's just say when she left me in the dark after you were 'fired' she said I was in her debt. I told her today to consider the debt paid." He smiles carefully pulling her in so she is stretched out on the couch between his legs and her upper body is resting against his. His head rests on her shoulder and she leans her head back on his. They watch the baby fight sleep and Deeks reaches around to cover her little foot that had kicked the blanket off.

A knock on their front door interupts their moment of silence. They immediately tense and go into protective mode. Kensi slides forward, allowing Deeks to get up, she follows, but not too closely.

Michaela woke up in the movement, but didn't cry sensing the protective arms around her. They walk back through the back doors they had left open and Deeks looks cautiously at the front door.

He realizes it's probably a neighborhood family, seeing a couple kids and two adults. He nods at Kensi letting her know its safe. She quickly follows him to the door.

"Hello, we're the Taylors, we live over there." the man says gesturing to the house to the left of theirs. "I'm Chris, this is my wife Amy, and our two kids, Reese and Mallory."

Deeks shakes their hands and Kensi nods her hello, still holding Michaela.

"I'm Marty, and this is Kensi, and our daughter, Michaela." Deeks replies kindly gesturing to them before putting his arm around Kensi and stepping to the side, inviting them in.

"Can we play outside?" Mallory asks her mom, she appears to be about two and has green eyes and dark straight hair. Her brother, Reese, looked up at their parents, who looked at Kensi and Deeks. "If it's okay with Mr. Marty and Miss Kensi." She replies looking at them.

Kensi answers, "Yeah, why don't we all go outside."

The adults sit on opposite sofas under the awning on the deck of the pool. They watch Reese and Mallory play in the yard past the pool.

Kensi pulls her legs underneath her an leans against Deeks, who in return puts his arm around her as they both watch the baby suck on her fist.

"Your house is beautiful." Amy says, making small talk. She's a young, woman with tan skin and straight, light brown hair.

"Thank you." Deeks replies smiling his charming grin that affects girls ages 2 to 92.

"I keep telling her we need to get a pool." Chris says looking at them then at his wife. He was a tall man, only about an inch shorter than Deeks, with pale skin and dark curly hair.

Reese looks just like his dad. Kensi finally decides, Mallory looks like a mix of the two of them.

"And I keep telling him we need to wait until Mallory is old enough to learn to swim. I'm terrified of the thought of her falling into a pool and not being able to swim."

"Thankfully she's not even mobile yet, but I'm sure we'll have to find some way to block off the pool in a year or so." Deeks says, Kensi looking up at him nodding as she rests her head back against his shoulder."

"So where do you two work?" Amy asks, continuing the conversation.

"LAPD" they answer simultaneously.

"Well, I guess it's comforting to have some cops living next door, Chris is an English teacher at the local collage, and I haven't worked since I had Reese. Do you have some where to leave Michaela while you're at work? I could watch her too if you'd like." Amy offers.

"Oh, thank you, but LAPD already offered it's child care services." Deeks says with a smile.

Kensi doesn't change her expression but looks at him with a questioning glance, him meeting hers with a look saying he'd explain later.

"Oh, that's nice they have that to offer." Chris replies "So how long have you been married?"

"Oh, we're not." Kensi replies quickly. Their neighbors look at them but don't say anything. She gets the feeling they don't approve, but at least their kind enough not to try to lecture them about how it wasn't a good example for their child.

"Do you have family in the area?" Amy asks, she was good at changing subjects when they became awkward.

"No, neither of us really have our parents anymore." Kensi tells them, taking in the stunned faces their neighbors give them.

"Oh, I'm sorry I.." Amy starts.

"It's okay, nothing recent, my was a Marine and died when I was in high school, I haven't seen my mom since a few years before that." Kensi explains.

"My parents passed away when I was young also." Deeks adds.

"So what brings you here?" Chris asks.

"Her." Deeks says gesturing to the baby in Kensi's arms. It wasn't completely a lie, "the neighborhood we were in before was close to work, but not the best for kids." They nod, knowing very few good neighborhoods seem to be left anymore.

They continue with the small talk until it starts to get dark about an hour after they've arrived.

"Well, we should probably get home and start getting them to bed." Chris says nodding towards their kids. "See you around. You're welcome to stop by any time." he adds before going to tell the kids it was time to go. They were still running around in the yard and Kensi wondered how they still had so much energy.

Deeks takes Michaela from Kensi's arms, she now had her little sweater on and was sleeping peacefully in her little blanket, still sucking on her fist.

Amy looked at the baby whose eyes fluttered open at the movement. "Wow, she looks like both of you. Your eyes and nose, and her daddy's hair. She's beautiful, congratulations!" She says as Chris returns with the kids and they leave.

Alone again, they settle on the couch, Kensi holding the baby again. Deeks comes up behind her and slips the hair tie out of her hair, letting it fall down her back as he walks around to sit next to her. She lies down, her head on the pillow beside him and her upper body going across his lap. Michaela was cuddled up to Kensi's chest and Deeks rested a hand on Kensi's cheek.

"You're really good at this mom stuff." he says and she realizes he's not joking as she looks into his eyes.

"And you're doing a great job as the daddy." She replies softly, not wanting to wake Michaela up. He leans over to kiss her and just as they start to get deeper into the kiss, Michaela starts fussing.

"She's probably hungry. The bottles are in the refrigerator, just stick one in the bottle warmer for a little bit, I'll go get a burp cloth." He nods as she hands the baby over to him. She clearly doesn't like holding her when she's upset, but she's doing better than he thought she would. She actually seemed to be attaching to her and definitely taking on the maternal role he knew she would, but just thought it would take her some time.

Just as the bottle warmer beeps, Kensi returns with a green burp cloth. Deeks takes the bottle out of the contraption and holds it out to Kensi. He smiles as she takes it and Michaela from his arms and paces around as Michaela watches her with her big brown eyes. Deeks walks up behind her and puts his arms around her waist pulling her with him as he leaned against the island in the kitchen. He kisses her neck and feels the shiver and shaky intake of breath as she reacts to the touch. He smiles against her cheek and watches Michaela finish her bottle. Kensi hands her to Deeks to burp. She does, then almost immediately, falls asleep.

"Let's go put her in her crib." Deeks whispers. Kensi nods and follows him, standing next to him as he places the little girl in the crib. He takes a baby monitor and they tip toe out of the room.

They get back to the living room and he tackles her to the couch, surprising her. She laughs a little when her back hits the couch then he places one knee between hers as he pushes himself up on his arms, one on each side of her.

"I'd say today went pretty well, wouldn't you?" He asks ignoring the questioning glance he was getting, he leans in to kiss her without waiting for a reply.

She groans as his lips hit the edge of her jaw, right next to her ear. He's glad he found another spot that seems to make her melt in his arms. She entangles her fingers in his hair and arches her back as he goes to the pulse point on her neck.

As their lips meet again, her hands slide under his shirt, needing to feel his skin. She bites his lip smiling as it receives a low groan of approval, tongues and teeth clashing for a few minutes, they finally pull apart.

They look at each other, knowing they want the same thing, but also knowing they can't, it's too soon. Although in a single twenty four hour period they had moved further than they had in years, the fact of the matter was, they only had officially been together for two days. Way too soon for what they wanted to do.

"You want to get something to eat?" He finally asks. She nods and he holds out his hand to help her up. They find the pizza from the night before in the refrigerator and each eat a couple slices, not even bothering to heat them up.

Finally deciding it was time for bed, they head up to their room and change.

His jaw nearly drops when he sees her tight purple spaghetti strap tank top and small grey shorts. She smiles when she sees his face, thinking how she knew he would react this way and it was nice to see the reaction she wanted, and expected.

He's wearing blue plaid boxers and a white t shirt, but she quickly disposes of the shirt, snuggling up next to him. She faces him and decides she can't even remember what it was like climbing into bed without him wrapping his arms around her. She knows she liked it before, just didn't admit it, but the warm feeling as she moved herself slightly on top of him was reassuring.

"I love you." she finally says.

"And I love you too, God, I'll never get tired of hearing you say that." He kisses the top of her head that's now resting on his chest, her hand over his heart. He strokes her hair until he feels her drift off to sleep.

He makes sure the baby monitor is turned up to full volume and listens to the breathing of their new baby girl.

He still can't believe he and Kensi have a baby, _together_.

_Maybe it's fate. I mean there's no other explanation. We're obviously perfect for each other, but wouldn't have admitted it in the ways we have, had we not been given this unfortunate scenario. _

He still feels horrible about what happened to Hanna-Rose. Relieved at least it wasn't because of the foul play he was used to seeing, it still hurt.

It was just now starting to register that she was really gone. But his thoughts were interrupted by a cry over the monitor.

Kensi jumped and was out of his arms in a flash already headed to the nursery. He tried, unsuccessfully, not to laugh, and then followed her down the hall.


	4. Learning the Ropes

_**I don't usually put notes at the beginning and end, because I know I usually skip them when I'm reading, but please read this one. I want to thank everyone for their wonderful reviews, I really do try to reply to every one of them. I had no idea that so many of you would like this, and I'm really surprised how many of you are following it already. I'm really glad you all like it, but I don't have a beta reader and I'm still only in high school, so it's not going to be perfect by any stretch of the imagination. Hope you all like this chapter, and I am going to continue to try to upload one chapter per week.**_

* * *

><p>He follows her into the nursery, pulling his shirt back on in the process, she's already cautiously picking the baby up out of the crib, he wasn't as fast to jump out of bed and take off running, her quick response didn't surprise him though, Kensi was protecting her, no, <em>their<em>, baby.

She gently takes the screaming baby in her arms and starts trying to calm her. Deeks realizes this is the first time she hasn't shoved the baby in his arms because she was crying.

"It's okay, baby girl, it's okay, shhhh..." Deeks smiles at her being so calm with a screaming baby.

"Shhhh, shhh, it's okay Michaela, we're here now." she says after glancing up at him.

_Why am I just standing here, the woman of my dreams is standing twelve feet away, wearing almost nothing, holding our baby, and if I'm going to be honest, this is **the** best thing that's ever happened to me._

He walks over and tries to take the baby from her arms, but receives _the look_. The look she gave Sam and Callen yesterday. He holds his hands up in surrender. "Woah, killer, just trying to help." He says grinning.

She half smiles at him then glancing at the baby, who is now very red, looks back at him. "She probably needs her diaper changed, we haven't changed it since we fed her, and we probably need to change her for bed anyway."

For some reason, they didn't think of putting pajamas on the baby before putting her to bed, maybe that's because her clothes were so soft they seemed like pajamas already, but they'll probably need changed as soon as the diaper is, accounting for the last incident.

"Okay, I can change her, and you can find the clothes." he says reaching for the baby.

She turns so the baby is out of his reach. "No." he looks at her, completely off guard. "No, I can change her. You find the clothes." He nods and turns to the closet, which looks rather, um interesting, to say the least.

_Well, the old Kensi hasn't completely left the building yet, no organization at all, oh and the all-too-familiar "freeze or you will be in severe pain before you can even process what I'm doing" look. Yeah, that's something I could do without at ten o'clock at night._

He grabs the blue little nightgown with a teddy bear pattern that Kensi had picked out of one of the many, many, bags that have been thrown/ dumped in the closet, half the contents already exploding out of them.

Kensi places the little baby on the changing table and grabs the supplies from the shelf below. Thinking back to what Nell had taught them, she repeated the process.

_Okay, hold her ankles up, wow she's strong, okay easy, now slide the diaper under her. Okay, so far so good. Wait, I should probably just take her clothes off, that way nothing gets on them and less to clean up. _

She gently removes the clothes from the wiggling baby.

_Now, pull on the tabs of the diaper, gross, how can something this little have this much in her? _She quickly wipes and removes the dirty diaper, throwing it in the seemingly effective waste basket that kept the stench in.

"Did you find her clothes yet?" She asks without turning around.

"Yes I did." He says from right over her shoulder, making her jump, receiving an elbow to the ribs he should have been expecting, but wasn't. "Owww!"

"Sorry, you scared me." but the way he can see her ears move the slightest lets him know she's definitely smiling, and didn't do that on reflex.

"No, you didn't, Kensi Marie, I can hear you smiling from here." He loves the shocked looks she gives him as her head whips around to look at him.

"How, wha..., how did you know?"

He moves in behind her, the baby is now quiet and in a clean diaper. He wraps his arms around her waist pulling her back into his front.

"Because I know you. I think I know you better than I know myself, sometimes. And I know when you're lying to me." he leans forward and kisses her now pleasantly blushing cheek.

He lets go and moves to dress the baby, she wraps her arms around his torso and rests her chin on his shoulder, which is at just the right height for her to be able to do so comfortably.

_We are perfect for each other in every way imaginable. His calming my panic attacks, my sensibility reminding him of his occasional downright stupidity, and the way he makes me feel, perfect is the only way to describe it._

He has to concentrate really hard on what he's doing in order to dress Michaela. Her breathing next to his ear, her body pressed against his, and her arms around him like they are don't leave him much focus.

Finally dressing the baby, he scoops her up and turns around, but Kensi doesn't move. Instead she places her hand on the little girl's hair, gently stroking it, the barely-there curls tickling her palm.

She looks up at him and he's just watching her, his eyes sparkling. She smiles and kisses him quickly on the lips, being mindful of the bundle between them as she leans in.

He hands her the baby and sits in a rocking chair, expecting her to sit next to him. Instead she surprises him. She walks over and sits on his lap, his arms go easily around her, and they watch the baby in her arms fall asleep. He kisses her collar bone and moves along to her bare shoulders, his scruffy beard tickling her neck and shoulders. The shiver he feels go down her spine that is molded into his chest makes him smile. Who knew he could ever have this effect on a woman, especially Kensi?

She stands up and he does too, following her to the crib and they both gently kiss the baby's forehead. He puts his arms on either side of her on the edge of the crib. But as she bends down, he can't help himself but gasp a little when her butt pushes his groin area as she places the baby down in the crib. She hears this and turns around quickly after settling the baby in her sleep sack.

Smiling up at him she takes both of his hands, leading him out of the room, she walks backwards in order to not break eye contact. She hits the light switch with her elbow as they leave the nursery and head to the master bedroom.

He can't help himself, she just looks to damn hot right now, how did she have this much control over him already?

"Kens, you know what we talked about right?" He reminds her, thankfully she nods, not seeming to be disappointed, apparently she had different plans.

She leads him past the bed and now he's confused. That is until they reach the bathroom. She turns on the water to the bathtub, leaving him gawking at her.

"You said no sex." she reminds him. He can't argue, although he's insistent on keeping that rule, he's kind of glad she had a way of finding her way around it.

"Ahh, I've taught you well, not breaking the rule, but not staying inside the lines, exactly where the rule was meant to keep you." He is smiling and she can see he's actually glad she found this little loophole. She slides her hands out of his and goes back into the bedroom. She picks up the baby monitor and brings it into the bathroom.

She practically rips his shirt off him, causing him to gasp, again, at the sudden movement. Her hands now working their way up his back pulling some of her weight onto him as her arms hook under his armpits and her hands are on his shoulders.

She kisses him so hard, so fast, that it takes him a full second to kiss back, but when he does, the sound he hears coming from her almost makes him want to break that rule. Almost.

The tub is full and she reluctantly pulls back for a second to shut the water off. Returning quickly to where she had left off. His hands come to her lower back and by the way she is arching into him, he takes that as a sign to continue. He slides his hands under her tight purple tank top. She leans into him more, if that's even possible.

His hands slide down to her small shorts, sliding his hands under the elastic waistband, he edges them down slowly, enjoying the way she seems to almost be shaking with anticipation. When he gets them most of the way down, she takes control and quickly steps out of them, not separating her lips from his.

He finally pulls back, unable to resist not knowing what she looks like anymore. He feels his jaw drop at the sight of Kensi Blye in black lace panties.

"Like what you see?" She says seductively, wrapping her arms around him.

"I'd have to be blind not to."

She blushes a little at his response, quickly leaning in for another kiss. Her hands fumble around near his boxers and his hands slip back under her tank top, she presses up against him and before she knows it, her tank top is over her head.

"Wow." he says taking in her matching lace bra. He seems to get over the shock and quickly reaches for the back to try and unhook it.

"Uh, buh, buh, buh, hold on there." she says as she feels his hands getting near the clasps. He looks at her in the eye, slightly confused. That is until he feels her tugging at his boxers, and takes that as a sign to continue.

The bra, boxers and panties are on the ground as they press against each other for yet another deep and passionate kiss.

He has to will himself not to get 'excited' as her hips roll against his. He's thankful when she finally leads him to the tub, because she has to pull away, giving him a moment to calm himself. She takes his hand and they walk up the two steps to the tub, stepping into the warm water felt so good to both of them, they hadn't realized how stressed they were until then.

She turns the jets on low, so they can still hear the monitor sitting next to them. She sinks into the water beside him, even though there is _plenty_ of space on the other side. Neither of them are too big, but the corner barely allows her to slip in next to him.

He puts his arm around her shoulders as she sinks in to his, now almost on her side, she puts a hand against his chest and looks up at him. They don't need to say anything more, the silent communication they have is special and covers everything that needs said at this moment. _I love you_ being the message portrayed by both blue and brown eyes.

She closes her eyes and lets the jets pulse away the tightness she didn't know was there. Her head now resting on his chest, his steady breathing and heart beat very calming to her.

His hand starts stroking her hair and down to her shoulder blades. Trying to relax her more.

_I can't believe this. Three days ago, this **never** could have even crossed my mind, well I guess that's a lie, because I've thought about something like this happening with Kensi since the moment I met her. But three days ago, that was purely a dream that I was positive wouldn't happen. Surprises are nice. And surprises like this are very, very, welcome indeed. _

He's pulled out of thought by her moving to sit up. Her leg comes between his in the process, but he knows she is on the same page, and he doesn't have to keep himself calm anymore. This wasn't much different than what they'd been doing in bed for months, even though it was much better now that she was complying and he wasn't sneaking his arms around her, after she was asleep.

She moves so she can reach the monitor and holds it up to her ears, and he feels her relax again.

"I couldn't hear her breathing." she says finally setting it back on the other side of him, her breasts and entire upper body coming completely out of the water, right in front of his face. But this was Kensi, and he didn't want to mess things up. And if anyone had willpower, it was him. He'd held back for almost two years now. Okay so maybe he gave in, but only because she wanted him to.

_This is nice, even though I can tell he's getting kind of uncomfortable when I move in front of him like that, it's not nice, but its fun to see his desire to do something more, just as much as I want too, but we both know it's too soon. I do like this change of pace. I haven't had a real relationship since Jack, I think the longest lasted two months, and we never even stayed the night at each other's places. We'd tried to pace ourselves, but it ended up being boring. This could never get boring. I am completely fine with just this for a while, even for a few months, I mean, I want to go further, but I also know that pushing could backfire. Badly. _

She'd slid down between his legs and he was rubbing her back, she was trying not to rub her backside against him, sensing he was having trouble keeping control when she did that. She was really trying to keep the boundary, and he noticed and was pleasantly surprised and thankful for that. He was afraid she was going to be the type of girl who pushed until she got what she wanted. She did in every other situation he'd seen her in, the whole situation with his gun, pushing suspects until they cracked, and she never, ever, gave up in a fight.

This side of Kensi he was falling head over heels in love with had a softer approach, she didn't demand anything, she made sure he was okay with what was going on, and she tried to keep him happy. Which was a huge surprise, he thought he was going to be struggling to keep her happy, but she turned the tables and showed him she was just as intent on keeping him happy and giving him what he wanted when she let their secret out in the parking lot in front of Sam and Callen.

"Marty," she says so softly he's not sure he even heard her but he stops rubbing, just so he can concentrate on what she's saying.

She turns around and tucks her legs under her and he can see she's trying not to cry.

"What's wrong princess?" he asks stroking her arms gently.

"Nothing it's okay really, I think I'm done in here though." The jets shut off just as she started to get up, he reaches for her hand and stands with her, taking her beauty in momentarily, but quickly returning his gaze to her tear filled eyes. They carefully step out, the tile extremely slippery.

"Wait here, I don't want you to fall, I'll grab the towels." He says, attempting to get her to hold on to the little ridge that was supposed to be a railing on the wall. She sighs but doesn't argue. She knows he's just wanting to help, and there's no need to upset him by resisting. She watches him carefully walking over and grabbing the towels that were only a few feet away, but took several seconds to get to.

"We should probably keep these closer to the tub for next time." he says handing her a towel and spreading another out to let them reach the mat on the tile.

He quickly wipes the towel around himself and lets Kensi step in front of him onto the towel. He takes her towel and helps dry her off, finally wrapping her in a hug after she was dry and had the towel wrapped around her body. She turns around in his arms to face him, and much to his displeasure, she still looks like she's about to cry.

He cups her face, "Kens, princess, something's wrong, what is it?" he says in what he hopes is a calming and reassuring voice.

"It's not something bad Marty, relax." she says, smiling as the tension leaves his body.

"Okay, then, something good?" he asks, hoping he's right.

"Yeah, its just, I realized I haven't had a real relationship for a really, really, long time. And the last guy that tried this 'no sex until we are completely committed to each other' thing was gone in less than two months." She sees doubt cloud his eyes, so she reaches around and pulls him into her. Her hands going under his arms to rest on his shoulders and her chin just barely touching his chest.

"But it's so different with you, I was happy when I was with Oliver, but I never felt like I do with you. I finally realized that a relationship doesn't have to have sex at all, it's nice to have it, but with you, I'm still happy when we're just together like this." she finishes and if the look in his eyes doesn't say it, the gentle caring and loving kiss on her forehead as he attempts to pull her in even closer does. Just as their lips lock, they feel the ground tremble a little, and a loud noise comes over the monitor.

They pull apart, grabbing the extra soft bath robes off the door and run towards the nursery. Hers is a wine red and his is navy blue. She would have never worn the pink one most girls seemed to own.

Reaching the nursery, Michaela is awake but not crying. He runs into her as she suddenly stops, almost sending them both tumbling forward. While he just wanted to run in and make sure his little girl was okay, she still had her instinctive caution while entering a room, not knowing the circumstances of what was inside. She flicks the light switch on and sees that one of the lamps has toppled over, thankfully without anything breaking, and there's a few things knocked over on the shelves under the changing table.

Seeing no danger she practically sprints to Michaela, Deeks not half a step behind. Scooping the baby up into her arms, she let out a sigh of relief after checking she was okay. They go downstairs into the living room and he grabs the remote, turning on the big screen TV.

The news channel is on but on commercial, the ticker tape at the bottom tells them what they already suspected.

"A 3.8 magnitude earthquake hit the Los Angeles area only moments ago." and went on to list numbers to call and warnings about the after shocks.

"Hopefully there won't be any tonight." He says as she curls up against him on the sofa, Michaela still in her arms.

"I don't want her alone in her room tonight though. She can sleep with us in our bed. It's big enough." she says stubbornly, he knows not to argue.

"Compromise, please, we haven't had one in a while." He says grinning, a small smile slowly spreads across her face as she looks him in the eye.

"And what compromise would that be?" She asks, cocking one eyebrow up, snuggling closer to him.

"Well, if she sleeps in our bed, neither of us will sleep because we'll be afraid to roll over or move, so why don't we let her sleep in her little playpen." He gestures to the small yellow playpen with pink butterflies. "We can move it over here and sleep on the couch."

She thinks for a moment, and finally nods. Neither of them have the energy but manage to climb upstairs to put pajamas on. He notices she has a pair of plaid flannel pajama pants on and is slightly disappointed they aren't those little shorts she had on earlier. But he realizes its a little colder downstairs, so it probably wasn't a bad idea. She had a plain t shirt on, he couldn't tell what color it was, maybe white or cream colored? He put his own navy and gray flannel pajamas on before pulling on his white shirt that was still on the counter. Walking out into the bedroom, he sees she is gone, and picking up Michaela from the bed, he notices the pillows are too.

He stops in the nursery, setting the lamp up and fixing the few things on the changing table before grabbing a few supplies so they wouldn't have to walk back up the stairs anytime soon. It's not that he's lazy, they have to walk up two flights of steps to get to the second floor because of the openness of the first. It was still not even directly above the living room which had a peak that was at the level of the three story ceiling. The house was so perfect, white picket fence, pool, a new baby, and now he had a wonderful woman in his life too, how could life get any better?

He pauses as he gets to the bottom of the steps, Kensi is in the living room and has moved Michaela's temporary bed over near the couch, but not too close so they would be able to talk without disturbing her. But it's not the fact that Kensi has already made the couch into a bed, reclining the seats back so they were completely flat and the foot stools up so there was a bed for them too. What makes him stop and stare is the what Kensi is wearing.

He thought the shirt and pants were a white or cream color, but now that he can see her with the help of the lights that are still on in the kitchen, he sees what color they really are.

"What?" she asks looking at him standing, one foot still on the bottom step where he had froze.

"You, you're wearing _pink_." he says, as if that explains it all.

"Yes..." she says as if he just stated 'the sky is blue'. He's now moved across the room and is placing Michaela down in her bed for the night.

Turning to look at her, he places his hands on her shoulders and runs them down her arms to her biceps. "I just never thought I'd see the day that Kensi Marie Blye would willingly wear pink, let alone a pastel, _girly_, pink. But then again, I never thought you would actually... that we would actually be together either, I mean I wanted to but I didn't think it would ever..." She places a finger on his lips and smiles at him.

He reaches behind her head and takes the out clip that had been holding some of her hair back away from her face. He smiles as the nearly dry curls fall around her face, framing it perfectly in the low light.

"What? Just because I don't wear pink in public doesn't mean I actually don't own any. If this surprises you, you'll be shocked at some of the stuff I own."

"I've seen your closet before, and I've never seen those in your closet or your drawers." He says still trying to wrap his head around this new feminine side of her.

"Apparently someone did some snooping while I was out." she eyes him teasingly and he doesn't feel the need to defend his actions. "You didn't think I had that much stuff that I didn't use in boxes in the extra bedroom, most of those boxes are clothes and other things I own that people usually don't see me using."

"Like what?" He asks as they lie down on the reclined, very comfortable sofa bed.

"Like, you just have to wait until morning." she kisses him quickly on the lips before getting up to turn off the kitchen light. She purposely leaves on the light in the little breakfast nook past the stairs so they will be able to see if they wake up. Glancing at the clock she realizes its already past two. Sliding back into Deeks' arms, she sighs, happiness and love are all she can feel right now, that is until she feels another little tremor, it was barely noticeable but still concerned her.

"You okay?" he asks rubbing his hand down her arm, feeling it was cool to the touch, he pulls the blanket from beside him to cover both of them as she cuddles in closer.

"Yeah, with you I am." She smiles at him but he's confused as to what she means.

"That's good, but what would be bothering you if I wasn't here?"

"The earthquake. I know a lot of people think they're cool and fun when they're little like this, but I've always been terrified of them. I always feel like the ground's going to open up below me and I'm going to fall in like they show on the cartoons. I know it's stupid and won't happen, but for some reason I never can shake that feeling."

He pulls her in as close as possible. His arm is behind her head and his hand still on her arm. Her head is in between his arm and chest and he can barely feel her breath as she breathes against his shirt.

"I know it's kind of ironic because I'm a surfer, but I get completely freaked out by just about everything that lives in the ocean." He feels her slight smile against his chest but she encourages him to go on by stroking his leg with her foot. "I am terrified of sharks and jellyfish. Crabs scare me and every time I step on a shell I think one is trying to pinch me. I'm not a big fish person either. Most of them are ugly. Those big, bulging eyes kind of give me the creeps." he finishes and she turns her head so she can look up at him.

"And what are you going to tell her if she comes home from school one day and wants a fish like they have in the class room? Are we going to tell her no because Daddy's afraid of fishies?"

"Hey, now, I didn't make fun of you!" He says but catches the apologetic glance in her eyes and continues. "No, I'm not afraid of them when their in a tank, just when their circling my legs and touching my feet."

"I'll make sure they don't get in the bathtub then." she says smiling, then yawning.

"We'd better try to sleep some before she needs something again." he reminds her and apparently she was more tired than she'd been letting show because within two minutes, she's out. He follows soon after. Michaela only wakes them up a few more times for different things and they gladly sleep in past their normal six am.

* * *

><p>It's actually almost ten before he notices Kensi stirring beside him. She streaches her arms up above her head and groans a little. She opens her eyes and he smiles at one of his favorite looks, sleepy smile with her half open eyes.<p>

"Morning, sleepy head." he says smiling.

"Marty, why didn't you wake me up sooner?" she asks, her voice still husky from sleep.

"You needed your rest." He kisses her forehead, then nose, then a quick kiss on the lips. "Wait here." he says getting up. He goes to Michaela's bed and picks her up gently, not wanting to wake her. He walks over to Kensi and hands her to her. She'd sat the couch up so it wasn't completely flat out, now it was at a more comfortable, quarter up, position. Taking the baby in her arms she smiles up at him. "I'll be back in a minute. He says heading towards the kitchen.

She looks out at the pool and thinks how maybe they can go outside later. It looked nice out, but she knew it was probably colder than the bright sun made it look. She hears him behind her in the kitchen but doesn't look, knowing he's doing something that is supposed to be a surprise.

She zones out for a few minutes until he comes into her sight. She smiles as she sees the trays he's carrying. He sets hers down in front of her, taking Michaela after setting the other tray on the couch beside her. He places Michaela back in her playpen and returns to the couch. He'd found the breakfast trays for bed in the cupboard the day before and had made one of Kensi's favorite breakfasts, cereal, coffee, and half of a bagel with her chocolate hazelnut spread.

She kisses him on the cheek as a little thank you before she starts eating. He watches her eat, enjoying the breakfast he knew she'd love. This used to be a sight he would have enjoyed because she had her guard down, not that he didn't anymore, it was just different, and shocking to see that her guard was down almost all the time around him.

Just as he was finishing putting the dishes in the dishwasher, he feels her hands come around and hug him from behind.

"You know what, you're the only guy who's ever cooked for me. Jack was worse than I am, which is saying something." he laughs a little at this but still hates when she compares him to Jack. Although lately it sounded like she was putting him down and complimenting him instead of the other way around.

"Oh, well, you deserve it." He says as he turns around in her arms, her eyes look puzzled. "because you're perfect, and because you've been working really hard at being a great Mother and I wanted to give you something." She smiles at him in amazement. He deserved special treatment just as much as she did. He was doing a great job too. But she wasn't about to argue with him on this.

The next three days go by without a hitch. They get Michaela into a schedule of eating and sleeping. They catch up on sleep while they can, her first few nights hadn't been easy for any of them. She finally was sleeping more at night and staying awake during the day, or at least more of it.

* * *

><p>The sixth day with Michaela, they decide to go to the beach. It was warmer outside and she could tell he was nearly going insane without surfing. At the mere mention of the beach, he bolted to the garage to wax his surf board.<p>

Kensi went upstairs to change Michaela into her little swimming suit, it was pretty darn cute, she had to admit.

The little purple and teal blue polka dot bathing suit had a ruffled little skirt and on the straps. The skirt like bottom of the suit made it a little difficult for Kensi to find something for her to wear as a cover up, but finally found a little yellow dress with orange embroidered flowers across the top half. It flared out, allowing for the ruffled skirt to not bunch up and make her uncomfortable. The swimming diaper was a little heavier than her regular one, so it made her bottom even bigger still.

Kensi had to pride herself in how well she was adjusting to this. She was up here changing and dressing the baby without Deeks. She still needed him, but she liked being independent too, and he allowed her to do that. That was one of her main problems with dating. Guys were always too clingy and over protective of her.

She takes Michaela downstairs and just as she puts her in her playpen, Deeks comes back in with his green surf board. "I'm going to change, can you keep an eye on her?" she asks as he sets the surfboard gently against the wall by the back door.

"Yeah, you don't even have to ask." He replies smoothly. He watches her curiously as she walks past the steps to retrieve one of her boxes. Remembering what she'd said about them, he cocks one eyebrow at her as she walks back out and starts going up the stares.

"Just wait Marty." She says over her shoulder as she climbs the stairs.

Digging through the box, she finds her yellow and white striped bikini. She loves this one because it makes her skin look even tanner, even if she hasn't been in the sun for a while. It doesn't leave much to the imagination, it's by far one of her tiniest ones, and she can only imagine his reaction when he sees it. She reaches in the box and pulls out her belly button rings.

Carefully selecting a more intricate one with a heart design and a couple pink rhinestones, she puts it in and examines herself in the mirror. She knows he loves her hair down, but she can't do that on the beach. She hates her hair sticking to the back of her neck when she gets a little sweaty, and the weight of her hair doesn't allow the skin below to breathe very well, causing more sweat.

She pulls it up into a high ponytail, and even though it's only up a little higher than normal, she feels like one of those stupid high school cheerleaders. But then remembering Deeks would like that look, she puts a yellow hair tie around it and goes back to the box.

She finds the sundress that she hasn't worn in what seems like forever. It's a pretty, light pink dress made of t shirt material, it's fitted until just above her butt, where it loosened into a flouncing skirt, ending above her knees. It was simple, yet so much more feminine than she'd usually wear, even more so than what Hetty would make her wear.

She pulls her big sunglasses out of the box along with the beach bag. She puts them in and then puts an extra change of clothes in too, a pair of jean shorts and one of her plaid button up shirts, just in case her dress ended up wet and they wanted to walk to one of the nearby restaurants or shops that were scattered around the beach. The white flip flops are at the bottom and she slips them on. She hasn't been to the beach for a while now. Over a year, if you don't count undercover assignments like in Romania or when they were watching Callen's old partner from a safe distance, she still didn't know why Hetty had made her wear a bikini that day, it was cool enough she could have passed wearing what Callen's 'wife' Tracy had been wearing.

She knows Deeks had his eyes on her, face it he couldn't take them off, but then again she had a hard time resisting looking at his amazingly ripped, lean, tan, surfer's body. _Maybe Hetty had done that on purpose, I mean, it seems like she's been trying to get us together since day one. Sending me in with the shortest dresses when I'm undercover with him, I never wore these tiny dresses when I was working with Sam, Callen, or Dom. _She sighs, remembering her old partner. He was so young. But she couldn't dwell on that thought too long because she knew Deeks was waiting for her downstairs. Taking one last look in the mirror, she picked up her bag and grabbing the sunscreen out of the bottom of the box, tossing it in as she walked.

She tip toes down the stairs and sneaks up behind Deeks. He's playing with Michaela in her playpen. He stands up just before she gets there, but he doesn't turn around.

"Boo." she says as she jumps onto his back.

"Ahhh, woah." he says startled then laughing. She laughs too and she lets go and he turns around.

The look on his face is priceless. It's ten times better in person than she imagined.

"You weren't joking when you said I'd be shocked." he says taking the dress and how amazing she looked in it. Her hair and the fact she had very little make up on made her look younger, which she didn't look old to begin with, she's a few years younger than himself, but she looked absolutely stunning.

"You probably should go change while I finish packing." she tells him. He nods and kisses her on the lips quickly. She was growing to love these little gestures. _Wow, a week and a half ago, these would have been massive, unheard of gestures, now they're little? We're moving faster than I realized, but then again, we kind of have been flirting around a relationship for about a year now._

She walks to the kitchen and warms a couple bottles for Michaela, who is now sitting in her little bouncy chair on top of the island in the kitchen. The little sleeves that came with a couple of the bottles they'd bought were insulated and claimed to keep them warm. She threw those, along with a burp cloth in the beach bag, that was starting to look more like a diaper bag, _probably should grab that and just stick these in there, then I can put cold stuff in this bag._ She grabs the diaper bag from beside the couch where it had been given a spot, easily accessed from anywhere downstairs. She remembers she didn't grab any towels and is just about to go get them when she feels something hit her back.

She whirls around to see Deeks holding a towel, the other on the ground. She grabs it and uses it to whip him teasingly. They refold their towels and he puts the stuff by the back door as Kensi picks Michaela up from her bouncer and carries it back to the living room, putting it next to where her playpen had been, but was now sitting with the rest of their stuff by the door. Just as she is standing back up, she hears a knock on the door.

She glances at Deeks and he shrugs, sending her the message it was probably just another neighbor. She gets to the door and sees who it is.

"Hello, wasn't expecting to see you." She says as she opens the door.

Deeks is already on his way to the door, recognizing the voice immediately as their team leader, Callen.

"Well, I thought I'd stop by and fill you in on what we've been doing back at OSP, but it looks like you're getting ready to go, I can come back later..." Deeks cuts him off.

"You could come down to the beach with us, I'd like to hear what's going on." Kensi gives him a look and backs him away from the door slightly.

"What are you doing! He's only going to make jokes about us and..."

"No, he's not. He doesn't care if we're together. You can't read eyes in a rear view mirror Kens. He doesn't have any objections to us being together. Just that I don't hurt you. You're like his little sister, Kensi, and he probably just wants to talk to you." He'd cut her off, which she usually found extremely annoying, but she let it slide this time, he seemed so confident about this, she just nodded.

"You can come in Callen." She says to him, he glances up, surprised, for one, he thought Deeks would be trying to protect her and not want him to come in, but Kensi seemed to be the one objecting to it, and perhaps the most surprising fact was that he'd actually been able to convince Kensi to let him come. When Kensi didn't want something, it didn't happen.

"Do you have a bathing suit?" she asks him, pulling him from his thoughts.

"Kensi, I live in LA and work at NCIS OSP. I always have a suit with me." He goes to his car and grabs his black suit out of his go bag along with the towel he'd stowed it there a while back.

Returning into the house, he's met with the sight of Kensi trying to, unsuccessfully, show Deeks how to use the stroller.

"Read, pull the red lever and push forward until it locks into place, then twist the handle to lock it too."

"It's a lot more complicated than it sounds." He struggles but eventually gets it open.

"Planning on pushing that Deeks?" Callen gestures to the girly stroller.

"Yeah, Callen, I am, unless you want to." he looks at Callen who shakes his head and then at Kensi who just gives him 'the look'.

"Just don't get too depressed when your sky high ego plummets, babies aren't really chick magnets Deeks. Most of them run the other way."

"I didn't." Kensi reminds him.

"Yeah, well you didn't really have a choice, now the baby's half yours too."

"Oh and by the way Callen," Deeks reminds them he's still there, the tension in the room obvious. "I'm not really trying to attract the ladies anymore, I've already got mine." he says putting an arm around Kensi's waist, she just smiles at him then glares at Callen, who realizes he's outnumbered and probably doesn't want to push any more buttons. He retreats to the first floor bathroom, the only room on the right side of the front door. It was just behind the garage towards the back door, which made it easily accessible from the pool area.

He comes back out and they're both standing by the back door waiting. He can't help but notice something's definitely different about Kensi, she seems so much happier, relaxed. Which is great, Kensi didn't have much in her life before, she, like himself, was alone all the time. Now she had Deeks and he couldn't help but be a little jealous of the man for getting Kensi. No man in their right mind wouldn't be moderately attracted to her. He definitely had tried a couple times, but she shut him down quickly. She'd done it to Deeks, but he pressed on, eventually getting her to flirt back in their banter that always had some deeper meaning than what it appeared.

Kensi leaned down to kiss the baby in Deeks arms before he put her into her car seat he'd successfully attached to the stroller, then leaning up to kiss him. He couldn't help but watch but as it went on he continued into the room, they pulled apart at the realization of his presence.

It surprises Kensi that he doesn't make a comment about them, but then again Deeks had said he didn't care if they were together. Earlier he'd only started teasing Deeks and she kind of brought herself into it.

"Let's go!" Deeks says as they head out the door, Callen looks at Kensi as she starts pushing the stroller, but then realizes why. Deeks grabs the bottom as they try to keep it from bouncing too much as they half push, half carry, it down the few steps to the pool area. Kensi steps aside and runs back in to grab her bag. They walk across the lawn to the gate at the back. Kensi and Deeks loose their shoes as soon as they hit the sand dunes. The beach wasn't right outside their gate, they had to walk about a hundred yards or so to get to it, but it was worth it in the end.

None of their neighbors were out, and they could see the fence that separated their neighborhood's beach from the public beach, down a couple miles, where the fence was, they could see many people but the noise was lost over the distance.

Kensi and Deeks spread out the blanket, and plop down beside each other, Kensi had put the playpen under the umbrella, and now was snuggled up against Deeks. Callen felt slightly awkward, but sensed they didn't really care that he was there.

"We started the investigation the day you were in. So far all we have is that there's some sort of terrorist cell using local gangs to launder their money. We're not sure yet how big it is, but Eric's been able to track down some of the currency they've stolen. They're being smart about it, using it in places all over LA. Never spending too much in one spot to avoid raising suspicion"

"How much?" Kensi asks.

"Nearly three million." Deeks whistles.

"How can they launder that much the way they are?" Kensi questions.

"We think that's where the gangs come in. They're not the well known ones, some we've never even had on our radar before. Most are young kids, wannabes, as Sam phrased it."

They continue discussing the case until Deeks can't stand not being in the water any longer. He runs back to the house for his surf board. Callen stays about half an hour longer, clearly impressed by Deeks surfing. Just before he leaves, Kensi asks him to keep an eye on Michaela so she can go get in the water with Deeks, who is now almost to them.

"Whatcha doin?" He asks as she stands up from the blanket, throwing her sunglasses back in her bag.

"Callen's going to watch Michaela so I can come out in the water with you." She replies simply.

"You sure?" He's not sure Callen's really comfortable with the baby, but he nods.

Kensi takes off her dress and she swears both of their eyes nearly pop out of their heads. Mainly Deeks. She wraps her arms around his neck and presses her skin against his. She can see Callen out of the corner of her eye, and if someone didn't know him like she did, they wouldn't have caught it.

She saw the flicker of jealousy. Maybe not about her, but because he didn't have a girl in his life like Deeks did.

"Wow, still surprises me Kensi's the one that has a problem keeping her hands to herself. Are you still sure this is really Kensi, Deeks, I mean she had a _pink_ dress on and now she's all over you." Kensi narrows her eyes at Callen.

"Yup, definitely my partner." he says as he sees the look. "Why? Jealous?" he asks teasing, Kensi knows he must've caught the look too.

"Definitely not! Just humor me and keep this out of the office when you come back." he says.

"We're not in the office now though." Deeks reminds him, Kensi sticks her tongue out at him like a little kid then leans in to kiss him again.

* * *

><p>She links her fingers as he holds her hand, the sun is still very warm but the water's not as warm as she'd expected.<p>

"It's kinda cold"

"Come on, Kens, don't tell me you're one of those girls who wimps out when the water's cold."

"Am not."

"Prove it."

They continue into the water and get to their waists,

"Okay I think this is far enough, I probably need to get back to Michaela, Callen's probably having a panic attack and..."

He picks her up and throws her in the water.

"Deeks!" she screams when she comes back up. He knows he's in trouble when she calls him 'Deeks' instead of 'Marty'.

She full out tackles him into the water. They wrestle for a moment before finally coming back up for air. Their a little deeper now and he's at a slight advantage, the water comes up to her bikini top, but is only about an inch above his belly button.

She takes him out at the knees and is on his back when he comes back up gasping for air.

"Okay, okay, sorry. You win." he finally says.

She smiles and he reaches behind to hold her on his back, his hands coming into contact with her butt, he can't help but smile a little at how close they were to taking the next step, but how they both were willing to wait a little longer. It wouldn't be long now, but he was enjoying this stage while he could.

She reaches around to kiss his cheek and he lets her down. Turning around, he pulls her in closer as her hands come up for a better kiss. This one's deep and passionate and full of love, the orange, yellow and red sunset behind them made it even more perfect.

* * *

><p>He takes her hand and they walk down to the water. Callen smirks as Kensi half jumps at the water, which is probably pretty cold at this time of year, but when she gets out to her waist, she starts to pull back and looks as if she might be getting out, when Deeks grabs her, picks her up and throws her in the water.<p>

He laughs, knowing what's coming next, and sure enough, a full out brawl breaks out. He's surprised Kensi's bikini isn't lost in the tangle of limbs flying. Finally letting Deeks come up for air, Kensi stays on his back as he holds her there.

He almost wants to leave when they kiss, but he's on babysitting duty, and he can't help but admit, they do seem to be perfect, their silhouettes dark against the setting sun. He sees the camera in Kensi's bag and decides to snap one of them, they probably don't have anyone to take pictures of them together, so he aims and when he looks at the picture, he's pretty sure he's seen it on a postcard. Except for you can still tell it's Kensi and Deeks.

He starts flipping through other pictures. Michaela sleeping, Michaela eating, Michaela's first bath with them as parents, Kensi attempting to make the formula for the first time alone. Deeks covered in baby powder, apparently after a diaper change gone totally wrong, then he gets to the first of their photo shoot.

The first few of them standing, smiling by the pool, he looks and sees the date and time and realizes that it must've been before they'd gone to the courthouse.

Then the pictures start to get interesting. Them standing in the same way they were now standing in the water, her arms around his neck, his around her waist, they lean in to kiss, then he pulls back and shows her something.

He sees it's his NCIS badge, and realizes that this must have been when he told her. The look on her face is priceless.

She leans in and their kissing again, he feels like this is a photo version of a romantic soap opera. The last few are of them just looking into each others eyes, and he can see just how deeply they're connected, just by that simple picture.

He gets back to the picture he'd taken and takes a couple more of them before they get out. One of them standing in that position, and the other of them holding hands walking back into shore.

Kensi grabs a towel and immediately goes over to check on Michaela. "Was she okay? Did she cry?" Callen laughs at how maternal Kensi is towards the baby. Deeks laughs along with him. "What?"

"Kens, you're in full out mother mode again." he says reaching around her waist to pull her closer. She gives him a glare. He whispers in her ear, "I think it's hot, but Callen's just not used to seeing you this way, Princess, give him some tolerance."She nods and he kisses her temple.

Callen leaves and they pack up and go back to the house. They're both starving from all the physical exercise, well compared to normal, it wasn't much, but they haven't hit the gym in a week.

They eat peanut butter and jellies and channel surf the rest of the night, feeding and changing Michaela in between all that.

They end up falling asleep on the couch in the middle of the America's Next Top Model marathon.

Little do they know how this case is going to hit so close to home. Literally.

* * *

><p><em>Ohhh the suspense, sorry I had to do that, and I'm just going to say now, I refuse to kill either of them. I get so frustrated when I read someone's story and in the last chapter they kill one of the main characters. I'm not saying this isn't going to have any casualties, I mean Hanna-Rose already died, but there's definitely going to be some major turns of events in the next few chapters.<em>


	5. New House Guest

_**I'm going to apologize now, I know Kensi is kind of out of character in this chapter, but where I'm going with it it will make much more sense. Leave a review!**_

* * *

><p>The next couple days are pretty uneventful. That weekend they spend more time at the beach, and end up having a day there with the Taylors. They suggest a barbeque to get to know the rest of their neighbors, and the Taylors immediately agree to attend.<p>

Once Reese and Mallory are tired, the family leaves Kensi and Deeks on the beach with Michaela, alone.

"I can't believe we're having a barbeque!" Kensi says, more so to herself.

"Why is that so amazing?" Deeks gives her a questioning glance.

She leans into his shoulder as they lay down, looking up at the multicolored clouds caused by the setting sun. "I don't know, it just seems like such a normal thing, you know. I just never have had what people call a normal life. Especially now at NCIS." She looks up at him and he nods and then kisses her forehead.

"Yeah, so you ready to go back?" he asks, hoping for a few more days, even another week off, but when she was ready, he would go too.

"Nah, let's wait until after the barbeque next weekend. Oh, and speaking of back to work, where is Michaela going to go? Is there actually a LAPD babysitting service?" She asks.

"Yeah, there is, but that's not where I want her to go. My old partner, Allison, has a little girl and she already said she'd take care of Michaela. I trusted her to watch my back and I trust her with our daughter, I just hope you can too."

"Just one thing, is she the reason you swore never to have a female partner again?"

He should have seen that coming, but didn't. "Yeah, we kind of ended up in a relationship and it wasn't working so I tried to ease her down, but she thought I meant I didn't want her around anymore, she completely freaked on me and then our boss separated us. We're back to close friends now though." he says, and she can see he's telling the truth.

"Okay, if you trust her then I do too." Kensi says.

He nearly shakes her, but instead sits up and pulls her into a hug.

"What?" she asks him, clearly confused.

"I know how hard it is for you to trust, and for you to trust Ali without knowing her, just because I trust her, that's huge."

She pulls back and looks at him like he's stupid and he fears he's said something wrong. "Why should that surprise you? I trust you with my heart, and that's much harder to trust than a person, albeit Michaela is more important than anything in the world to me, it's easier to trust someone to take care of you or someone else then it is to love."

* * *

><p>He kisses her and they stand up, grabbing Michaela's stroller and heading back to the house. As soon as they walk in the door, they hear the phone ringing, Kensi runs to answer it while Deeks unhooks a sleeping Michaela from her stroller.<p>

"Hello?" Kensi asks apprehensively, not recognizing the number.

"Is Marty there, please I need to speak to him, this is an emergency!" a desperate sounding man's voice comes over the earpiece, alarming Kensi.

"Yeah, hold on I'll get him." She practically runs the phone to him, he gives her a questioning glance, but seeing the look on her face he quickly takes the phone.

"Marty, it's Rob, I don't know who else to call, and Cheryl's in panic, and..."

"Slow down Rob, what's going on?" Deeks asks, Kensi's eyes light up when she recognizes the name, but remembering he said it was an emergency, she quickly becomes concerned.

"We had a little run in with one of these gangs that were part of a terrorist group. Apparently they'd been coming here and spending the stolen money and now we have to go downtown and give our statements, the only thing is, they want us to keep open so if any other groups come, they'll be caught too."

"Wait who is 'they'" He asks, concerned that there are imposters acting as cops, it happened last year to a family buisness and completely ruined them.

"These NCIS people. LAPD showed up then sent them in. Listen, Marty, I need you to come take Sarah. They offered her protective custody, but I don't trust Sarah with anyone. I said I had a friend at LAPD and they said you could come get her, they just need to talk to you first."

"We're on our way." he says hanging up.

At Kensi's questioning glance, he grabs Michaela, who thankfully is still in her car seat. Not caring that they're still in beach attire, they head to the car.

"That was Rob, the terrorist group we've been tracking had sent a gang into their restaurant to launder some of the money without Cheryl and Rob knowing. He won't leave Sarah to the law enforcement officers there, and he wants me, or us, to watch her."

"Which law enforcement agency is it?" Kensi asks.

"NCIS." he says, then smiling, "Guess we get to work from home now."

"Yeah, I guess we do."

They get to the restaurant and see Sam's Challenger in the parking lot. Next to it is an unknown car, but Nell is standing out front, apparently waiting.

Nell has been on several undercover assignments and it doesn't surprise Kensi that she's filling in.

"Hey guys, what are you doing here?" Rob clearly hadn't said who his friend was.

"Rob called me, us, about Sarah." he quickly explains.

"Can you stay with Michaela?" Kensi asks getting out of the car.

"Of course!" Nell is already opening the back door, cooing over the baby, then looking at Kensi kind of awkwardly.

They enter the restaurant and receive questioning glances from Sam and Callen and one agent they don't know.

"I'm Robs friend." Deeks says, immediately understanding the situation they all relax. Sam keeps eying Kensi, who at this point realizes why he and Nell had looked at her funny, she's still in her dress from the beach.

_Well at least it's not my pink one!_ She thinks to herself, today she had decided to wear a pastel green, flowing, cotton dress. There was a baby blue tie around the middle that was in a loose bow thing in the back. Deeks wasn't the best at tying dresses yet.

"Marty!" Rob comes out followed by Cheryl, who looks like she's been crying and a very terrified looking Sarah in her arms. She sets Sarah down and she runs immediately to Kensi, who in return picks her up.

"Hey, I though I was your favorite?" Deeks jokes, receiving a little smile from Sarah, he was glad he could make her feel a little better.

Callen speaks up, "Deeks, you sure you can take her, with a new baby and everything?"

"Yeah, we're already at home. She's not too difficult, and this way we can be doing something while we're at home, instead of just wondering what you guys are doing. That gets boring after a while." Turning to Sarah he asks, "You like the beach"

She eagerly nods her head. "Yeah!"

Kensi smiles at the little girl. "That's good, because we have a pool and the beach in our back yard." she continues with Deeks' game of lightening the mood, trying not to worry the little girl who they both know understands more than anyone thinks.

"So how long will I be with you? Until all the bad guys are caught? Dad said that there might be more and they have to stay open because they might have other bad guys that could come back. He says they don't want me here because of that. Is it dangerous? Will they be okay?" Sarah asks.

Callen looks impressed at the child's understanding of the situation. He responds in a way that he thinks is apropriate for the little girl. "We don't know how long it will take, maybe a week, but you might have to stay there for a few months. The bad guys could show up tomorrow for all we know. It is dangerous, but don't worry. We'll have people here to protect them. They will be okay. I promise."

She looks skeptical but buys his story. "Okay." She yawns and Kensi puts her down to say goodbye to her mom and dad/ aunt and uncle. He gives Kensi a small red suitcase with some of Sarah's things in there, they must have been allowed to go home at some point today.

Deeks picks Sarah up and they walk out the door. Nell is still babbling to the baby in the back seat and Deeks puts Sarah down as he goes to get her booster seat out of the car next to his. Kensi throws the suitcase into the back and closes the hatch. Deeks grabs the seat and goes back inside with Nell.

Kensi focuses on strapping Sarah into the seat and making sure she is comfortable. She sees the little girl is still confused and scared and gives her a quick, awkward hug from her position in the door.

"Miss Kensi?" Sarah says softly. "are they really going to be okay? I know he promised, but this seems like one of those things that you can't guarantee anything on."

Kensi sighs, "Sweetie, a lot of things can't be guaranteed. You're right, there is a risk here, but I don't think anything will happen to them. I won't promise you anything, because I know in situations like these you can't promise anything, but just think positively and it won't be as hard to be away."

"Okay I'll try." Sarah replies, she looks at Kensi with her big blue eyes and she almost melts, she's trying to be so strong, in a situation most six year olds would be emotionally distressed by.

Deeks returns to the car and hops into the drivers side. "I had to talk to Sam and let him know what exactly was going on." he explains. Sam had walked off with the other agent while they'd been talking to Callen, Cheryl, and Rob. They pull away from the little diner and Kensi sees Sarah sadden as it disappears from view.

"Where are you going?" Kensi asks, noticing he turned the wrong way.

"Surprise." He replies. They drive for a while before pulling up to an ice cream shop.

"Ice cream?" Sarah asks excitedly. Kensi smiles at him and squeezes his hand. He was always so thoughtful when it came to the people he cared about.

They eat ice cream for dinner and it's late by the time they get back home. Sarah's in awe of the house, as anyone who came in was. "Where am I going to sleep?" Sarah asks almost immediately. Kensi and Deeks look at each other an panic for a moment before Kensi remembers something.

"There's a bed in the big storage room over there." she walks to the far side of the living room and sure enough, there's the parts to a smaller twin bed in the closet along with the mattress.

"I'm not even going to ask what you were doing in here." Deeks says, slightly serious.

"Well, while you're out surfing and Michaela's napping, I have to do something, so I've been exploring a little." he nods.

They start taking the pieces upstairs and Sarah insists on helping somehow, so Deeks tells her she can babysit Michaela, who's sleeping, so basically she's watching tv in the living room. Deeks had the monitor with them upstairs.

They had quickly decided to move the office furniture into the workout room, which was much easier than the other way around. They leave the desk and a shelf in the room, noticing how empty and cold it felt with just the bed.

Returning downstairs, Sarah is still watching Tv, but with the ice cream wearing off, she's struggling to stay awake. Kensi takes her upstairs and helps her take a bath and get ready for bed while Deeks does the same with Michaela. They meet up in their bedroom. Kensi had hidden the extra monitor in Sarah's room, now understanding why you would need a 'free bonus set of baby monitors' when you bought the set they did. They can hear the girls sleeping and soon enough they start to doze off themselves.

* * *

><p>They wake at the feeling of something climbing into their bed. Sarah crawls up to Kensi's side. "I had a bad dream." Kensi didn't know what to do, this was a mother thing, and she was a mom, but not Sarah's. She's just glad she and Deeks aren't in too intimate of a position, they were just curled against each other, her back against his front, and his arm around her waist.<p>

She pulls away a little to lay on her back and pats the bed beside her for Sarah to lie down, the little girl gladly snuggles under the blankets, and they all fall asleep again, the big bed allowing for everyone to have their own space, but in their sleep, Kensi and Deeks end up curled against each other and Sarah's body ends up snuggled next to Kensi's.

* * *

><p>When Kensi wakes up she momentarily is confused because she can feel two bodies pressed against hers. Opening her eyes and seeing Sarah, she remembers the situation. The little blonde is snuggled against her arm and she is sleeping on her back, but halfway on top of Deeks who holds her waist tightly. She lays there, not wanting to wake either of them, until Sarah starts to stir. Kensi reaches and pulls her into a hug, knowing how scary it can be to wake up in an unfamiliar place. Especially with people she doesn't really know that well.<p>

"Kensi?" Sarah says groggily, wiping her eyes as she rolls over to face her.

"Good morning." Kensi says as she brushes Sarah's hair away from her face.

Sarah studies her face for a minute. "Is he up yet?"

"Yes" Kensi jumps at the sleepy voice in her ear.

"How long have you been awake?" Kensi asks looking over at him.

"Couple minutes, right before Sarah woke up." he replies, his voice still husky.

Sarah gets up to go to the bathroom down the hall, even though she could have used thiers, Kensi just figures she's already familiar with the other one.

As soon as Sarah's gone, Deeks pulls her into him and kisses her. She's surprised at the sudden gesture, but gladly returns the kiss, they sit up and she ends up straddling his lap, again. The kisses get deeper and the little grunts and moans start to come out. They hear a sound over the monitors and notice the zipper of the suitcase being pulled open.

Deeks flips himself over on top of her, realizing they still have a couple more minutes to themselves. She hooks her legs around his waist and pulls him into her. She smiles a little as she feels a definite bulge there. He groans a little as she rubs against him again and then he kisses her neck and by her ear making her shiver.

He pulls her into his stomach and rolls onto his back, she looks down at him, and leans in again, kissing harder than they ever have before. She knows she's never felt this way and he's thinking the same thing.

Finally, reluctantly pulling apart, they look in each others eyes and both know they're ready.

He smiles and she starts laughing a little and he finds her laughter contagious.

It's been almost three weeks now. That's almost a month! Which to either of them is like a lifetime in a relationship. The problem is, now they have Sarah there who can walk into their room at any time. They will have to either wait until she leaves or find a way to guarantee she won't disrupt them.

They silently agree to it as soon as they are actually alone. _God, I love having Sarah here, and wouldn't want her anywhere else, but REALLY? Now we decide it's time to take the next step? Worst. Timing. EVER. _Kensi thinks to herself as they get out of bed.

* * *

><p>They find Sarah sitting in a rocking chair in the nursery, watching Michaela sleep. Kensi and Deeks stop in the doorway and he puts his arm around her waist, standing behind and to the side of her. Kensi looks over her shoulder at Deeks and they both smile again. <em>Nope, a baby here, and babysitting and that smile is still there. It actually seems to appear more and more now. That's good because Kensi rarely smiled before unless it was at a joke that was most likely aimed at me or when she's undercover, and that doesn't count.<em>

Sarah seems to notice their presence and turns to look at them. Kensi almost expects her to make another comment about them being a cute couple, she doesn't though, and surprises her with an even more mature comment.

"Michaela and I are a lot alike. I mean she's a baby, but neither of us really have our real parents anymore, but we both found amazing people to love us like our real moms and dads would have." She walks up to Kensi, who picks her up into a hug. "I know it's not easy taking in someone else's baby, I still remember my mo.., my aunt and uncle fighting a lot because they weren't sure what to do. You guys are really great. You haven't fought at all around her, or that I've seen at least. You must really love each other." Deeks wraps his other arm around Kensi so the three of them are in one big hug. When Sarah turns to look at the baby, Deeks gives Kensi a very fast kiss on the lips, leaving her stunned for a moment after, then relaxing and putting her arm around him in a kind of awkward side hug.

They still had their thing where if one person made a move, the other would do something back. That'd been going on since day one. Kensi smiles as Deeks picks up Michaela and brings her back to Kensi and Sarah. Kensi's surprised the baby's awake and not crying. Deeks and Kensi carry the girls downstairs into the kitchen, Kensi sits Sarah on one of the bar stools at the island and Deeks brings the little bouncer seat in and sits it on the counter near Sarah. Kensi sits next to Sarah and they watch as Deeks makes breakfast.

He had found some basic ingredients in the cupboard and noticed they weren't expired and hadn't been opened yet, so he decided to make pancakes.

He smiles at the sound of Kensi and Sarah laughing about something Michaela is doing, and he can totally see himself in several years with Michaela about the same age as Sarah and another baby, _their own baby, _on the counter. Michaela was their daughter, but he wanted to actually have one with Kensi.

_You're getting ahead of yourself Deeks, we just kind of silently agreed to take the next step this morning, and even though she kinda said she would like to marry you and possibly have kids, its way, way to early. I guess we've kinda been in a relationship type thing for more than two years now, but still, I want to wait until she's ready. That is something that cannot happen without her actually wanting to. Pushing her may just push her away instead._

He glances over his shoulder and sees Kensi glancing back and forth between Michaela and Sarah then him, she sighs and closes her eyes and when she opens them, she's smiling.

_I can't believe this, sure neither of these girls are biologically related to either of us, and Sarah's not even ours, but this feels so perfect. Not just the idea of having kids, but having a family. Me, Marty, Michaela, and another child. _She almost jumps at the realization of this. She doesn't just want a relationship with Deeks. She wants a life with him, a family too. This is more than she ever even got to dream about with Jack. Up until a few weeks ago, she didn't even think she wanted to be a mom, but now she couldn't picture her life without being one. She opens her eyes and looks at Deeks, another silent message goes between them, and she knows he's been thinking the same thing, it's scary but amazing that they are so in tune with each other. He smiles back and returns to his pancakes on the stove.

He puts the plates on the table and Kensi helps Sarah down, not wanting her to get hurt.

"I can do this myself." Sarah says arms across her chest.

Kensi smiles, remembering saying that so many times in her life, crossing her arms just like Sarah was doing. "Okay, okay, if you get hurt, it's not my fault." Kensi reluctantly lets Sarah jump down from the stool.

Deeks puts Michaela in her high chair and they devour the pancakes, only having ice cream for dinner left you very hungry in the morning.

"That was amazing Marty." Kensi says as she leans back against her chair, not able to eat another bite.

Sarah was still eating, she took her time to eat and was actually on her third pancake, which was pretty impressive for someone that tiny. Mind, the pancakes were almost as big as her head to begin with.

Deeks finishes and finds her foot under the table. She smiles at this, thinking how in middle school this was like the biggest sign of affection, it seemed so immature, but even to her now, as an adult, it still held the same meaning.

She looks at the girls, Michaela's playing with some little toys, Deeks had already fed her. Sarah was just about done, eating. Deeks is sitting across from her and they both smile at how much they're both enjoying this situation, albeit unfortunate for Sarah's parents, it just gave them something to look forward to.

After cleaning up, Deeks joined the girls who were sitting on the living room rug playing with Michaela, who was laying on her back under one of those mobile like things that formed an upside down U over her chest, allowing her to reach up and move the hanging items. He situates himself behind Kensi on the couch and she leans back, allowing herself to come between his legs.

He starts massaging her shoulders as they watch Sarah play with Michaela. Kensi looks up at him, with that glint he saw earlier in the kitchen. He leans down and kisses her forehead, she closes her eyes, enjoying the warmth of his lips, before opening them again.

"Someday." he tells her quietly. "I promise."

She smiles at him, knowing this was a promise he was definitely going to keep. She didn't think she was ready to have another baby just yet, she wanted to wait until Michaela was a little older to try, but then again, sometimes it took years for people to get pregnant, so maybe they should try soon.

"Good, I'd like that." She says, locking her eyes with his for a few more seconds before looking back at the girls.

"Hey, Sarah, you want to go down to the beach?" Kensi asks, already starting to stand up.

"Yes!" She takes off to her temporary bedroom before Kensi is on her feet.

Deeks takes advantage of the fact they're alone and grabs her from behind, pulling her down on his lap for another deep kiss.

"Marty, I can't wait any longer. Please tell me you have a plan." He knows what she means, he doesn't know if he can stand the tension any longer either.

"Not yet, but I know we have to figure something out. _Soon._"

She nods eagerly. Just as they get up, the doorbell rings. They go to the door and find a very large box on the porch with a man in a USPS uniform. Deeks signs the paper and carries the box inside. Kensi is still confused.

He opens the box and tells her to turn around. He knew this was coming soon so he'd already put a nail into where the picture would go. He grabs the step stool and hangs it on the wall. It looked better than he'd pictured it.

"Okay, turn around." he tells her, pulling her waist into his as she does.

She gasps and hugs him tightly. "I love it. It's absolutely perfect." It did fill up the space on the wall nicely, but Kensi could see many more pictures going around it. The white wall was extremely empty looking still, it was the only wall that didn't have a window or staircase on it. The fire place below didn't really do much to fill the space, and she doubted they'd ever use it, it never got cold enough but it looked nice.

"I knew you'd like it." They kiss until they hear Sarah coming down the steps. Taking one last look at the picture, she turns around to see Sarah wearing a pair of jean shorts and a loose tank top over a bathing suit.

Kensi goes upstairs and puts on her tiny black bikini with gold rings on the sides of the bottoms instead of ties. There was also a gold ring in between her breasts, leaving little to the imagination. This was by far, her tiniest bikini, but she knew Deeks would love it. She puts on a mini pink sundress, different from the other one, this one's hot pink with a white tie around the mid section. Slipping on her white flip flops, she goes back downstairs. The spaghetti straps of her dress are a little tight so she is trying to loosen them when Deeks comes and almost plows her over on the corner of the steps.

"What the hell?" She says, catching her balance.

"Let me help you." She rolls her eyes but turns around as he fixes the straps. He's pressed tightly against her back and after adjusting the straps, he moves his hands down to her stomach, pulling her flush against him, she reaches up behind and strokes his hair. She looks up at him and he turns her around to kiss her.

The kiss is so powerful Kensi almost looses her balance on the landing. She tightens her grip and suppresses the moan she wants to so desperatly let out. Finally pulling away from each other they look into one another's eyes.

"That was..." Kensi starts.

"Yeah, I know." He finishes for her.

She walks down the second flight of steps not breaking her eyes from his as she takes the first few steps down. He gets an idea that might just work.

He comes back down from changing and finds Kensi already has everyone's bags by the pool with her and Sarah. They have their legs in the water and Michaela is still in her stroller. Sarah jumps up when she hears his steps behind her, and he holds out his hand to help Kensi up. He's wearing a striped polo with navy blue swim trunks and of coarse, sandals.

"To the beach!" he says pointing a finger up like a super hero, causing both girls to laugh. Sarah half runs, half skips down through the sand dunes. The stroller causes them to have to slow, but the all-terrain wheels help a lot, only slowing them enough that Sarah has to stop twice.

He laughs as Kensi throws her shoes in the bottom of the stroller and takes off after Sarah who is now laughing and having fun, they're not even to the beach yet. Kensi catches her just as she reaches the edge of the beach and scoops her up in both arms, cradling her like a baby. She moves Sarah to her hip until Deeks catches up to them.

It's Saturday, so almost all of their neighbors are down at the beach. They're all happy to meet them and Kensi and Deeks pull Sarah aside and crouch down to her level.

"Sarah, if anyone asks, your parents are family friends and they're having some problems at work and you have to stay with us for a while, okay?" Deeks explains this to her.

"Okay, why?" Sarah asks

"Because we don't want to scare anyone or let them know about the bad guys. It's a big secret and nobody can know, okay? Make sure you tell that exact story, don't change it." Kensi tells her seriously.

"Okay, I promise." Sarah says and they know she can handle that. She's a very smart kid.

The Taylors come down and lay their blanket out a few feet away. "Who's the little girl?" Amy asks Kensi.

"She's a close friend's daughter, they're having some trouble at work and asked us to look after her until they get it under control." Amy nods her head.

Kensi watches as Sarah and Reese built a sand castle. She had noticed Sarah was small, but seeing her next to Reese, who was only four, she realized just how tiny the six year old was.

Sarah was only about two inches taller than Reese, and compared to the other kids her age, she was almost four inches shorter. Her looks were deceiving though, as Kensi knew.

It turned out Sarah was very good at making friends, which she already suspected she would be, but soon enough all the kids were building a sand castle village together. Some of them looked twelve others a little younger than Reese. Mallory was asleep on the blanket now, and her dad was spraying more sun screen on her. There were now about ten kids building and laughing together.

Deeks had filled the little baby inflatable pool with water from the ocean and it had been sitting for a while and now the water was pleasantly warm. They decided to see how Michaela would like it. Kensi removed her little pink and yellow and orange tie dye dress and smiled as she saw Deeks had dressed her in the little red bathing suit with white polka dots that looked like a tutu. Her little hat made her look so cute.

Sitting her in the little seat, they smiled as she started splashing and playing in the water. Her face when she got some of the salt water in her mouth was so adorable, Kensi couldn't help but let out a little "Awww..." as Deeks smiled at her.

Amy took off her cover up, revealing a more modest halter top and bottoms that covered much more than Kensi's bikini did, and she was considering leaving the dress on until she felt Deeks undoing the tie on the back and helping her lift it over her head. He'd already shed his polo behind her back and she laughed as he pulled her back into him , still sitting on the blanket. Pulling away, she smiled at him and they watched Michaela carefully. Kensi took her out after about ten minutes though, afraid the salt water might be a little too harsh on her skin. She dried and wrapped the baby in a little purple hooded towel. Deeks put his arms behind him to support his weight and Kensi leaned into his shoulder, still holding the baby close.

They smiled and watched the kids play in the sand until most of them left for lunch. Reese, Mallory, and Sarah were the only three left on this end of the beach.

"Do we have anything to eat?" Sarah said upon returning.

"Yeah, make sure you get the sand off your hands first though." Kensi warned. They ate their sandwiches and had water before deciding to go down to the water.

Kensi took the towel off of Michaela and reapplied sunscreen to both Michaela and Sarah. Deeks of coarse insisted on putting hers on for her, and apparently he didn't mind her doing his either.

She finished rubbing the sunscreen on his back and leaned up on her toes to kiss his cheek. Her stomach coming into contact with the skin on his back, which was pleasantly warm from the sun. She doesn't miss the shiver that travels down his spine.

They walk down to the water, which is calm today. Kensi is actually able to wade out to her waist in the almost flat water.

"Glad I wasn't planning on surfing today." Deeks says eying the glassy water.

"It's nice for today though." She replies. He puts his arm around her waist and they watch as Sarah collects shells and other various rocks.

"Look this one's purple!" Sarah says coming up with something.

"That's called sea glass. Someone must have thrown a purple bottle into the ocean a long time ago and the waves made it smooth. You should keep that I've only found a couple pieces myself, and I've never seen purple before." she nods then hands it to him and dives back under again. The mask covers most of her face and makes her voice very nasal sounding.

"Found another shell!" She hands it to Deeks who's pockets are nearly full. Kensi is playing with the baby, dipping her feet in the water as she giggles and gurgles her approval of the water.

Amy and Chris join them and Sarah and Reese dive for more things on the ocean floor.

The guys talk about the surf and weather while the girls walk into shallower water. Now walking through knee deep water, Kensi has her first 'girl talk' in years.

"I let all the neighborhood know about the barbeque tomorrow night. Everyone's planning on coming. Are you bringing any friends from work?"

"I don't know, they're busy but might be able to come, I'll ask them tonight."

They continue with their talk about the barbeque and Amy tells her about all the families in the neighborhood and she catalogs every piece she tells her as they walk back to the blanket. Most of them had been at the beach earlier.

They start drying off and Kensi sits Michaela in her car seat in the sand.

"I wish I had your body, I haven't been able to get mine back since I had Reese." Amy says as they continue to towel themselves dry.

She wasn't heavy, but definitely didn't have the stomach or leg definition Kensi had. She had the slightest muffin top, but not enough that she didn't look good in the suit she was wearing.

"I guess I'm just lucky." Kensi replies simply.

"I'm not trying to offend you or anything, but don't you ever worry about not being married? I mean I've always thought of my marriage as the trust between us. Now that you have a baby, do you consider it a good idea?"

Kensi thought for a minute before supplying an answer. "We've discussed it, but for us, we have had to trust each other for a long time. With our line of work, you put your life in your partner's hands and have to be able to trust them to protect your back. We've had that trust for a couple years now, so, no, I don't think of it in that way."

Amy seems to understand. "You do seem to have an incredible bond. I can't remember the last time Chris and I were so happy together. Kids seem to tear you apart sometimes. You probably have had your share of problems too, though."

Kensi shook her head. "No, actually she brought us together in more ways we could have ever imagined." she says truthfully. "We weren't like this before we had her." Amy looks confused and Kensi is trying to find a way to describe the situation without giving too much away. "We weren't planning on having kids anytime soon, but he's been really great in taking care of both of us. I always tease him that he's the woman in the relationship, but I'm glad he is most of the time. Growing up without any siblings on a marine base didn't give me much experience with kids. He had more experience because of friends siblings and such, but he's always been a natural. I was terrified of having a child. I didn't really know what to do when we found out but he kept me calm and assured me everything would be okay, and I guess he stuck to his word." she smiles and Amy seems to approve of how everything came to be and turned out.

"You're lucky to find a man that supportive of you. Chris treats me well, but we don't communicate well and that leads to some problems in our relationship."

"Marty and I can usually tell what the other is feeling or thinking just from our jobs and having to know how to read each other. The connection we have has helped us a lot though, in work and at home."

"Did you have problems with your coworkers, any teasing at the office?" Kensi laughs at Amy's question.

"Definitely, two of the guys that have worked with me longer than Deeks has are like my big brothers. They haven't left one opportunity to tease open."

The boys return with the kids and they all pack up and return to their houses.

* * *

><p>Kensi walks upstairs to put on dry clothes and Deeks carries Michaela up behind her, followed by Sarah. Sarah takes a shower and changes into capri pajama pants with a tank top and pulls her hair up into a ponytail. Kensi knows she couldn't have done that on her own at that age.<p>

Deeks has Michaela in a little yellow night gown and she's already asleep in her crib. The three of them head downstairs, Kensi in little black shorts and a cherry red tank top, Deeks in athletic shorts and a plain white t shirt. They order a pizza and then call the local deli, ordering the hamburgers and hot dogs for tomorrow. There were only going to be about twenty people there, but Kensi remembers about what Amy had said about inviting coworkers.

"Should we invite the team?" Kensi asks after they've ordered.

"Already done." She smiles at him.

"Sam has a little girl Sarah's age named Loren." Sarah gets excited about having someone her own age coming over, none of the kids at the beach were her age, all either a few years older or a few years younger.

They watch cartoons until the pizza gets there, Sarah has already claimed the recliner, it is huge and makes her look even smaller, but she seems to like it. Kensi is completely fine with this, because that leaves the couch and the big arm chair for them.

Kensi and Deeks answer the door when the pizza gets there. Deeks steps in front of Kensi to take the pizza. She rolls her eyes, the teen eying her up was no threat, but apparently there was some sort of guy code to protect your girl from wandering eyes.

She gives the kid a tip and half pushes him out the door just as Deeks returns with Michaela in his arms and Sarah is running to the table for food. The kid seems to get he's not got a chance and retreats to the car.

"See, not a humble brag. I'm apparently a magnet to creeps like that." she tells him between bites of her Hawaiian pizza. "God, this pizza is like heaven."

He nods, taking another bite of his sausage pizza. 'What, so I'm a creep?"

"What? No!" she replies quickly before realizing he was joking, he laughs and gets a well deserved punch in the arm.

Sarah even seemed to really enjoy her extra extra cheesy pizza. Kensi still couldn't believe how much that girl could eat, she had two slices of pizza, a large handful of chips and a glass of lemon lime soda. Kensi ate the same. Deeks had an extra piece of pizza, even though he regretted it later.

They settle in the living room again, Sarah is completely absorbed by Phineas and Ferb while Deeks and Kensi snuggle in the arm chair.

It was big enough for the both of them to sit side by side with a few inches between them, but of course, they didn't leave that space. Kensi tucked her legs partially underneath her and leaned into Deeks' chest. She realized that showing this type of affection in front of a six year old usually made them uncomfortable and say 'ewww, gross' but Sarah didn't seem to mind, in fact she almost seemed to be encouraging it. She would sit in the middle of the bench at the park, making them sit really close together, then slide down or get up, and usually Kensi and Deeks didn't move.

Kensi wondered why she was doing this. Why did the kid care if they were together? It was probably a game to her. Try and play matchmaker.

Kensi must have dozed off, because the next thing she knows, Deeks is pulling the throw he'd tucked around them off of her. She slowly sits up, shivering as she leaves his warm body. Sarah was also asleep, she looked at the clock and it was nearly midnight. Apparently all three of them had fallen asleep.

Kensi walks over and picks Sarah up, being careful not to wake her. Deeks smiles as he follows her up the steps.

They tuck Sarah in and go to feed Michaela. They've discovered she doesn't wake as much if they feed her right before they go to bed. She seems to sleep better this way too.

They've only been getting up about once a night to feed or change, sometimes both. It was nice that they were finally getting some sleep. Well, Kensi hoped for more than just sleeping at night soon, but didn't know when _soon_ would be.

She curls up next to Deeks and is facing him. He leans down to kiss her and it's even more powerful than the one on the steps. She swears she has a mini orgasm, just from the kiss. She can't even imagine what it will be like to actually have sex with him. He seems to sense her loss of control, and pulls back.

"I really wish we could do this now." he tells her.

"I know, why couldn't we have decided this earlier?"

"Well, maybe it's a good thing, because then we'd know what we were missing and it would be even harder. Plus, I think we'll be able to tomorrow night."

"What? How?" she look at him, he loves watching the expression change in her eyes.

"I have a plan." He smirks and rolls her over and wraps both arms around her protectively. One arm goes under her and around her hips, and the other goes over her and just under her breasts. She sighs a content, happy, sigh and is quickly taken by sleep.

* * *

><p>She wakes up to Deeks practically pulling her out of bed.<p>

"What?" she asks as he half pulls, half picks her up off the bed. Her eyes are still partially closed as he drags her down to the living room. Sarah runs past them on the stairs, heading up to Michaela's room.

"It's a surprise." He says, she's wide awake now. She's not sure what to expect. They're on the turn on the steps and he stops her. "Close your eyes."

"How do you expect me to get down the steps with my eyes shut?" He bends down for her to jump on his back. "Okay, well if you fall, remember, I'm landing on a cushion, you're landing on a hardwood floor." She does as he wants and closes her eyes, burying her head in the crook of his neck so he knew she wasn't looking.

She wasn't that heavy. Deeks easily had her down the steps in less than thirty seconds. "Keep them shut, I'm putting you down. He puts her down and spins her around a bunch of times so she doesn't know where he's taking her.

He leads her over to the wall and stands behind her. He drapes his arms over her shoulders and she reaches and holds onto his hands that are just below her breasts. "Okay, you can open them now."

She opens her eyes and they almost immediately cloud with tears. On the wall all around their picture, there are pictures that she didn't even know existed. Pictures of Michaela were everywhere, some in black and white, others in color. They all had the same black picture frame, which looked elegant against the white wall. Each picture had a two inch white border before the frame. There were also pictures of Sarah and Michaela playing on the ground. Sarah holding Michaela and feeding her her bottle. Kensi rocking Michaela in the nursery, Kensi laying on the couch on Deeks with the baby on her chest. Sarah, Michaela and Kensi the other morning when Deeks was making breakfast, them eating ice cream. Then she noticed three pictures she knew weren't taken by either of them.

"Where did you get these?" she asks still studying the collage of photos.

"Most of them are from me setting the camera up on a timer, or being sneaky. Callen must've taken these." he says pointing to the three beautiful pictures of them, silhouetted against the fiery orange, red, and yellow sky. The ocean even reflected the colors. She smiles realizing he's right.

In total, there are probably thirty pictures on the wall. Their house feels so much more homey with all of these personal touches and memories. She notices a box of more frames.

"What are those for?"

"Future memories." he says kissing the top of her head.

She smiles and turns around in his arms and kisses him. They hear the baby monitor come to life and know Michaela's up.

Jogging up the steps, they find Sarah in the nursery, letting the baby death grip her finger through the bars. "It's okay Michaela. Mommy and Daddy are on their way." she tells the infant. Kensi smiles as she makes her way across the room. This is going to be a great day. She already knows it.

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><p><em><strong>So I'm not sure how you think this turned out, it's a little different from the others, leave a review to help me on the next chapter!<strong>_


	6. Barbecue and a New Problem

_**Warning: There is an 'M' rated section in this chapter, it's small so I will mark it for those of you who wish not to read it. It won't take away from the story if you don't read it. **_

_**Sorry it took so long to get this chapter up, I was having a little trouble getting to the place I wanted to end it at, and the first time I wrote the ending, it didn't turn out right so I just restarted from the middle. **_

_**Hope you like it, leave a review to help me write the next chapter!**_

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><p>The whirlwind of activity starts immediately. They go upstairs to get the girls ready, Kensi almost has to force the dress onto Sarah, who reminds her of herself as a child. Finally agreeing when Kensi points out she'll only have it on until the guests get here, then she can swim.<p>

Deeks has Michaela in a beautiful little bright orange dress with a matching headband with a large fake flower on it. She had little white shoes and orange socks on. "She looks adorable in orange, just like someone else I know." Deeks raises an eyebrow at her.

"I thought you liked me in pink." she replies teasingly.

"Yes, but the orange looks great on your skin." Kensi had to agree with him there. Yellows and oranges did compliment her olive skin tone nicely. Michaela's skin was a lighter tone than hers, but was going to probably be the same once she had some sun. Not that Kensi planned on her actually getting much without SPF 100+ on.

"Okay then, I guess we're having a rainbow theme." Deeks cocks an eyebrow at her. Sarah walks in wearing a bright red, purple, and yellow striped dress. He realized he was wearing a bright blue shirt with khaki shorts.

"And I presume that means you'll be wearing something green then? Unless you're planning on the pink again."

She gives him a mischievous smile and he doesn't know which she means. She disappears to the bedroom and returns. His jaw drops.

"Apparently we went with classic rainbow colors." he says taking in her dark green mini dress. It was a casual dress that covered about two inches of her shoulders, dipping down and leaving most of her back exposed. The deep scooped neckline wasn't overly exposing but still sexy. The dress was skin tight until her waist where it loosened to a flowing skirt, ending about an inch or two above her knees.

"Yeah, but hurry up, you still have to go pick up the meat." she reminds him. He carries Michaela down and puts her in her play pen while Kensi busies herself cleaning the house. She can't remember the last time she actually cleaned a house, but figured this house was too beautiful to leave messy and if Hetty came, she didn't want her to be disappointed by the condition of the house.

* * *

><p>Sarah had gone with Deeks and she was alone with Michaela. She realized this was the first time he'd actually gone away, leaving her with the baby. He'd never been further than the beach, where if she needed him, he'd be up within a minute of her calling to him. She's surprised she's not concerned with this. She's already so comfortable around a baby, a month ago, she was terrified to even touch one, but the second they brought Michaela in and put her in her arms, she was in love.<p>

She wondered if it would feel the same the first time she held her own baby in her arms for the first time. The thought of actually giving birth was still a scary thought, not to mention having to carry the baby around for nine months. That would also mean desk duty for almost a year, then leave for at least another month or two. She couldn't do that right now, not with already taking off this much with Michaela, albeit they were kind of working, babysitting Sarah wasn't what she was paid a government salary for.

She vacuums the living room carpet, along with the mat by the back door that was covered in sand, then swiffers all of the hardwood floors, upstairs and down. She moves the few remaining boxes up to their bedroom, placing them in the little alcove leading to the balcony she hadn't really gotten to use yet.

Just as she finished cleaning the bathroom, she hears Deeks pull back in the driveway. She picks up Michaela and puts the playpen in the corner of the room. Deeks waddles in the door carrying four bags of meat, Sarah carrying another two. They put it all on the counter and start preparing and seasoning the burgers.

With all the patties made, and some help from Sarah on the seasoning (apparently she'd payed close attention in the restaurant) they put them in the fridge so they don't spoil. Guests won't be arriving for another hour or so. They go out and relax by the pool to pass the time.

* * *

><p>Deeks had put up the volley ball net in the backyard and had set up a fire pit for later, plenty of seating around what looked like was going to be a great bonfire down on the beach. The water was still very calm, waves only lapping at the shore. The sky was clear and promised not to rain on their party.<p>

They hear a knock at the door and enter the house, leaving the large sliding glass doors open for guests to be able to enter and exit the house easily. They get to the front door and find Sam and Callen standing on their front porch.

Kensi has Michaela in her arms and the guys come in, eying her up, Deeks senses she's uncomfortable and puts an arm around her.

They turn to look at the newly decorated living room. Sam and Callen smile at the big picture above the mantle, then examine all of the other photos carefully. They walk up behind their coworkers and play with the baby in Kensi's arms until they turn back around.

Deeks' arm is still around her waist and his other arm is tickling the baby, who is giggling. Kensi looks up into his eyes before returning her gaze to their little girl. They guys look at each other and cross their arms waiting for them to realize they're being watched, which they seem to register at this point looking up.

"I'd like to make a comment, but I'm afraid Kensi's mother bear mode might kick in and kill us both." Sam says teasingly. Kensi narrows her eyes at him.

"what exactly is that supposed to mean?" she says, the words coming out a little harsher than anticipated, but she got her point across. Deeks took the baby and put her in the playpen a few feet away, returning to Kensi and wrapping his arms around her waist from behind. She breaks her glare at Sam momentarily to look up at Deeks and give him a sweet smile before returning her glare to Sam.

"She might be a little bipolar Deeks, watch yourself there." Callen warns.

"Okay, that's enough." Deeks snaps, knowing just how serious that condition is, and that it's not something to joke about. One of his childhood friends was bipolar and ended up depressed and in a mental hospital for the last two years.

"Sorry man, I wasn't trying to offend." Callen backs off, but Sam has something left to say, but before any more tension can build the doorbell rings. Kensi takes Deeks hand and they return to the door seeing Eric and Nell. Nell immediately goes to Michaela, picking her up and playing with her. Kensi watches her carefully and Sam snickers.

"It's not a bad thing Kensi, you're protecting your daughter and I understand that, it's just strange seeing you with a baby still."

"Speaking of which, where's your daughter and wife?" Deeks asks, just noticing that they didn't come with him.

"Loren had dance class this morning and they all went out to lunch, they'll be here in half an hour." Sure enough they arrived around two thirty on the dot. Neighbors had been arriving since just after Sam and Callen showed up. The Delps were the couple with older children, ages 9, 10, and 12. The Blooms had a son that was 11. The Taylors brought their kids, and the rest of the neighborhood seemed to be people who were either just married or single. There ended up being about thirty people there, and thankfully they had over-ordered the food. Deeks, Sam and Callen started grilling, the other men quickly seeming to gravitate towards the deck too.

* * *

><p>"What's up with men and grills?" Amy asks jokingly. They're both putting sunscreen on the kids who are anxious to jump into the pool. She puts the bright green arm floaties on Sarah and she puts her own goggles on. Reese wears a similar pair of floaties, but his have batman on them. Mallory has a life jacket and goggles on, along with a pair of arm floaties because she wanted to wear the same thing as the older kids. Kensi pulls out the inflatable baby raft and wades into the pool with Michaela. Michaela has on a little two piece purple bathing suit with white polka dots and of coarse the bottom looks like a skirt. She wonders if they bought one without a skirt.<p>

Kensi is wearing a navy blue bikini with silver accents, it covers a little more than Deeks would like, but not wanting to offend any neighbors, she decided to go a little more conservative today. Or as conservative as she could be while wearing a bikini. She definitely had the body to be wearing one, unlike some of the mothers who were (thankfully) covered a little more. The temperature was steadily rising, slowly driving all the women and kids into the pool while the guys stayed in the shade by the grill. The pool was very large for a backyard. Then again, it was owned by Hetty, who never had anything normal.

Kensi assumed Hetty wouldn't be coming, it would look a little suspicious for an old neighbor to show up again. Especially because she said she was moving out of state.

Kensi talks and gets to know the women. Christina is about her age, maybe a little older, and was one of the few unmarried people in the neighborhood. She was a personal trainer and owned her own fitness center and gym.

"So who's that guy over there?" she asks glancing at Callen.

"Oh, that's one of our coworkers." she replies smoothly.

"What's his name?" Christina is trying to just be casual, but she can tell she's interested in him.

"Callen. And I don't believe he has a girlfriend right now." She whispers the last part to her so nobody hears.

Christina blushes a little "How did you pick that up so fast?"

Kensi shrugs, "It's my job. I have to be able to tell if someone's lying, and I can read body language very well too." Christina nods at the explanation. Kensi gets an idea. "Come on I'll introduce you." she says, noticing Callen had moved down to the covered sofa. Kensi leaves Michaela with Nell and tells her she'll be right back.

They get out of the pool and wrap in towels. Christina is wearing a bikini similar to Kensi's but it was black with hot pink ties and a little silver heart ring between her breasts. Kensi noticed she was definitely in shape, and had a similar body to hers, even though Christina was a couple inches shorter. Christina had dark blonde hair, apparently naturally colored and highlighted by the sun.

"Hey, Callen." Kensi says walking up to him. "This is Christina, she lives down the street." As she's talking, Deeks sneaks up behind her and pulls her into the couch behind them. Startling her with the sudden movement, she jumps and he gets an elbow to the ribs. "Stop it you idiot, you should know by now not to do that!" she tells him but he just smiles back and pulls her down into his chest. She slides off his lap slightly and pulls her legs up beside her and Christina sits next to Callen who scoots over just a little bit to make room. Kensi notices he's definitely interested.

Deeks did seem to get the message and got up a minute later and Kensi returned to the pool. Some of the older kids were now out and playing volleyball.

Eric was now in the pool with a couple of the other guys and about thirty minutes later, Kensi decides to get out and dry off. She goes back inside and changes into very small denim shorts and a blue plaid button up shirt. She changes Michaela back into her dress and changes her diaper while she's at it. Coming back down, she sees Sarah playing with Loren, who's now in the pool too. They're laughing and having so much fun together. Kensi is happy to see Sarah forget about the 'situation' and let loose, something she hasn't completely done since she got here. Her hair is slightly pulled back from her face and she's glad it is, the wind has picked up and she's glad she can actually see where she's going without holding it back.

Finally, Deeks finishes grilling and Kensi brings out the drinks. They had beers in a cooler out of childrens reach and a soda cooler on the ground.

The adults settle around at the various tables and pool chairs while the kids eat out in the yard, sitting in the grass. Kensi has this warm, fuzzy feeling. She hasn't felt this happy in a very, very, long time.

* * *

><p>The party moves down to the beach, where the pile of driftwood had been placed to build a bonfire. It wasn't huge, only meant to last an hour or two, but it was fun. The ocean waves starting to crash a little in the background, meaning the surf will be up again tomorrow.<p>

Kensi and Deeks are sitting on a blanket in the sand with Michaela and Sarah. They look around at new and old friends, smiling and having a great time together.

Sam and his wife and daughter are on a blanket next to Kensi and Deeks, and soon the two little girls are back away from everyone else, building sand castles in the dim light of the fire.

The couples and children are all around, making Kensi feel like she actually belonged with them, they were going to be real friends, something she hadn't had in a while.

What makes her smile grow even bigger is when she sees Callen and Christina sitting on a blanket, almost directly across from them. Callen takes off his sweatshirt and wraps it around her, she smiles up at him, and Kensi sees something in his eyes she doesn't know if she's ever seen there. Happiness and if she's not mistaken, maybe love? It was too early to tell, but he was definitely happy.

Deeks squeezes her shoulders and smiles before looking back at the new couple himself. Kensi was starting to understand how fun this matchmaker game Sarah had been playing with them was. Knowing you helped two people get closer to each other was a very rewarding experience.

The fire starts to die down and neighbors wave their goodbyes as they walk back to their houses. Callen walks Christina back to her house, a couple lots down from theirs, and it's just Sam's family and them on the beach.

Mrs. Delp is not the only one of the night to comment on her new neighbor's relationship, telling them how perfect they seemed together, color coordinating and all.

Kensi hadn't even thought about it when she had gone inside to dress. Now that she thinks about it, she hadn't even owned a plaid shirt until she met Deeks. She didn't even mean to buy one, but she remembers liking one in a store and now she owns at least three or four. She didn't realize how much of an effect he'd been having on her. Her subconscious knew more than she did apparently.

They watch the kids make smores and then disperse like marbles to play in different areas of the beach. Michaela was sleeping on the blanket next to them in a little jacket and wrapped in a blanket, sitting in her little baby beach chair, she looked completely adorable.

Deeks reaches down and adjusts her blanket and brushes the hair away from her eyes, Kensi smiles at him and he kisses her temple.

The sky is so clear and the stars are visible. Kensi's not seen the stars for a very long time. Living in downtown LA, the lights blocked them from sight. Out here in the suburbs, she could see every constellation.

They lean back against the sand dune, which allowed them to look up without laying any further down than on a beach chair. She rests her head on his shoulder as his arm goes around hers.

"There's the big and little dipper." Deeks points out to her, he continues to try and show her the shapes.

"I don't see how that even looks like anything other than a snake." she says, confused why someone had actually taken the time to name these squiggly lines.

He chuckles and his voice vibrates against her ear. Finally finishing she rolls onto her side, still on his shoulder. "I like Orion." she tells him.

"that's only because he carries a weapon, what? You don't like the Pegasus? I thought all girls liked those?"

She punches him in the shoulder and sits up. Sam is shaking his head, he notices not all things have changed. Kensi still had that temper, resulting in an injury for Deeks, but he has to give the guy credit for not minding, he knows how much Kensi's 'playful' punches hurt.

He stands up and turns to walk over to Sarah and Loren, and looks at his daughter playing in the sand with her new friend. "Loren, it's almost time to go." Sam tells her.

"Awwwww" the girls say simultaneously.

Kensi and Deeks get up off their blanket and walk over to Sam's wife.

Sam walks back towards the adults.

"Sarah hasn't been this happy since she got here, we should let them play again some other time." Deeks looks at Sam's wife, who agrees.

"Mommy do we have to go?" Loren asks as she gets to her parents.

"Why don't you ask Sarah, Kensi, and Martin if she can come stay the night, you don't have school tomorrow, so it's okay with me." Kensi and Deeks look at each other, then at Sarah, who is giving a very convincing look. Deeks nods, then looks at Kensi for approval.

"Okay, just promise me you'll behave?" Sarah nods before running off with Loren, laughing the whole way back to the house where she throws clothes into her beach bag and grabs her pillow and leaves with Sam.

* * *

><p>"Why do I feel like you planned that?" Kensi eyes Deeks suspiciously but keeps teasing tone in her voice.<p>

"Maybe I kinda mentioned how Sarah said she hadn't been to a sleepover in a long time, which isn't a lie, she told me that today on the way to get the food, and Sam's wife seemed to get what I was saying."

She smiles at him and they put Michaela to bed, really, really hoping she doesn't wake up tonight.

They enter the bedroom and she takes a running leap and tackles Deeks onto the bed. She's on his back, both of them laughing, and he quickly flips her over. She grabs him in one of her famous holds and easily has him pinned, she's sitting on his stomach and his arms are above his head, allowing him a view right down her shirt. She lets go of his hands, and they immediately find the buttons of her shirt. Fumbling around a little, he finally has them undone, only to realize she has a navy blue tank top on underneath.

"Really?" he complains, she just smiles.

"Wouldn't want any neighbors seeing more than they want to."

**This is the 'M' rated section, feel free to skip to the end if you do not wish to read it,**

* * *

><p>He sits up and reaches his arms behind her, cradling her butt like he had in the ocean. The denim shorts felt so much like a boundary, and he liked to cross those. Before he even realizes what's happened, his shirt is off and on the floor, quickly repeating the action, he's left with only a few little articles of clothing between them. The shorts and panties are quickly gone, and his boxers and shorts soon follow. The feeling of being pressed against Kensi is so amazing, he knows in this moment she's the one. Nobody has ever made him feel this way before.<p>

He rolls over and she lets him take control, he slowly kisses her while rocking his hips against hers, she fails at suppressing the moan that comes out. Her hands ghost over his back and around to his stomach, making the sound come from him this time.

He moves his lips to her breasts and takes his time, she's practically vibrating with anticipation, and he can't say he isn't, but it seems to get better every second, so he's not rushing. She keeps arching into him and now her arms are in a death grip around his neck, pulling him back up to her face. She's barely able to breathe anymore.

"Stop, Marty, I need you now." there was clear desperation in her voice, and he knew she must be really close if she was actually begging him.

He finally, slowly pushes in, the moans and groans as they slide against each other create a perfect rhythm, and when she finally reaches her peak, a scream escapes her lips, causing him to come seconds later. He waits for her to finish riding out the tremors that seem to engulf her entire body, causing her nails to dig into his shoulder blades, but he doesn't even care anymore. They just lay in silence for a few minutes, her body now on top of his, his hand stroking her hair lovingly.

**End of 'M' rated section**

* * *

><p>"I love you too, Kensi." he says, his voice soft and caring in her ear. They make love again, and Deeks doesn't know how he would ever go back to being just her partner now. It's impossible to think of her as just a partner, or even just as a close friend. She was definitely more now.<p>

They fall into a deep sleep, only to be woken at the crack of dawn by Michaela, who had basically slept through the night. Albeit they didn't put her to bed until after eleven, and it was only about five now, she still didn't wake them in the middle of the night, or worse, in the middle of making love to each other.

Kensi and Deeks feed and change her, finally putting the little girl back in bed, a thought hits him.

"Please tell me you're on the pill?" he says, clearly panicked.

She shakes her head. "No." His eyes grow wide and he sits down in one of the rocking chairs. He leans forward and props his head on his hands, elbows resting on his knees.

"Marty?" he finally looks up at her and she's afraid she should have asked him about this before.

"Kensi, this isn't something you just shrug off!" he's almost yelling, but remembering the baby sleeping a few feet away, he lowers his voice, "What if you're..God, Kens, what would we do if..." he can't seem to say anything and puts his head back down in his hands.

She walks over and tilts his head up when she kneels in front of him. "Hey," he sees her searching his eyes and notices she's not scared, which calms him some. He puts his hands on her shoulders and pulls her closer.

"It's okay, I thought about using the condoms, but remembered what you said earlier, and decided I was okay with whatever outcome there was." She bites her lip, nervous he might get mad at her, and he doesn't do anything for about a minute, he's trying to process everything.

_Why didn't I think of this? Why isn't she panicking? If she's pregnant, I don't know what we would do! That's not a little step, that's almost suicidal in most relationships. Will she run away if she is?... What? Wait a second? Did she just say what I think she did? Does she realize this would mean she couldn't work in the field for a year? Is she just trying to stay calm for me, because this is a scary topic for anyone, and we've barely been together a month? Okay, Deeks, breathe, is this what you want? Are you ready to actually have your own child? Go through the whole process of Kensi's hormones completely out of whack, morning sickness, working with a temp? Maybe Nell could fill in, I trust her, and I'm sure Hetty would agree. So she's waiting for an answer, but I don't have any words to sum up what I'm feeling exactly._

His smile at the realization of what she just said took away all fears of him being mad that she didn't check with him before hand.

He still doesn't have words to say. He wraps his arms around her tighter and kisses her, pulling her to her feet, he practically drags her back to the bedroom where they make love two more times, each time it just seems to get better.

Later that morning, they have Michaela in her little mechanical swing that keeps her swinging at a pace that keeps her asleep.

"You're sure about what you said , I mean getting pregnant isn't something little Kensi, it means you won't really be able to work and you'll have to deal with the side effects..."

"I already had thought about it, and yeah, I think I'm ready. I mean if I did get pregnant last night, Michaela would be almost one by the time the baby would be born, and nobody actually gets pregnant their first time trying, sometimes it takes years, so I figured we might as well start trying now." She's so confident in her answer he can't resist the joke.

"Well if I remember correctly, we probably increased our chances by trying four times between last night and this morning."

She just smiles and comes around to his side of the island and presses herself against him. _This Kensi I could get used to, the girl who can't stand to be away from me anymore, but I know it will change the second we go back to work._

At two, Sam brings Sarah back, who looks like she's been up all night. _She probably was. _Kensi thinks, remembering the sleep overs she attended when she was Sarah's age. They would play games and eat sugar and not sleep at all. Looking at Sam, it didn't look like he had either.

Sarah falls asleep immediately on the couch, and Deeks carries her upstairs. The phone rings as he gets back down. It was Callen.

"Bad news, we've been monitoring the restaurant and something's definitely up. Usually Rob and Cheryl are in for work by six, but they haven't shown up yet. Something's off. Keep Sarah in your sight at all times, we don't know how bad this is yet, but I figured you need to be safe. I'll let you know when we find something."

Deeks sinks to the couch next to Kensi, staring at the coffee table, then down at the phone in his hands.

"What happened?" Kensi immediately asks, knowing it can't be good. She sits bolt upright in the armchair and reaches for his hand on the armrest of the couch.

"Cheryl and Rob are missing." he tells her. They both go up and check on Sarah. Knowing they'd just put her up there, but not feeling safe without being able to see her. Deeks carries her back downstairs and puts her in the recliner and covers her with a blanket as Kensi returns with Michaela.

She puts the baby in the little swing and watches her drift back off to sleep. Neither of them talk for a while, and the silence finally gets to Kensi, as she drags Deeks to the kitchen, out of earshot, but close enough to see the girls.

She turns around to face him and he can see the tears in her eyes as the first one falls. He tries to reach up to wipe it away, but she quickly swipes at it and slaps his hand down. He's taken aback by the gesture, it's something he would have expected a month or two ago, not today.

"Sorry." she says seeing the hurt look on his face.

"So, what's going on?" he asks searching her face for something to give him an answer.

"Cheryl and Rob have to be okay."

"They're doing everything they can to find them Kens, what are you getting at?"

"They can't die, because Sarah, she can't loose another set of parents." this time she's the one reaching for him and he gladly accepts the hug she needs, pulling her close and stroking her back as he feels her tears on his shoulder slow, he pulls back to look her in the eyes.

"She still hurts from losing her parents, and I guess it's getting personal now. I know you know what that feels like too." she doesn't need to continue, he knows she means that they've both lost parents and it's not something you forget. Michaela would, but she's too young to remember her mom. Sarah was two years old, and although memories from that age are lost over the years, the feeling of losing her parents will stay with her forever, and they both know that.

"Yeah, yeah I do." he pauses and kisses her forehead. "We'll find them. But right now our job is to keep her safe." Kensi nods and rests her head against his chest and lets the beating of his heart and his hands gently stroking her back calm her.

They decide it's best not to tell Sarah about the recent news. She doesn't need anything to worry about.

* * *

><p>They don't want to take Sarah out and are thankfully stocked up on food from the party. Mother Nature is on their side, giving them a week long rain storm, followed by another week of rough seas so that they don't have to lie about why they can't go down to the beach.<p>

They manage to get through the next two weeks without letting Sarah know about anything. The only news they've had is that they've caught another group and they might be able to get information out of one of them.

* * *

><p>It's now been two months since the disappearance, and Kensi and Deeks have now decided to take Sarah down to the beach periodically, never at the same time two days in a row, and either Deeks or Kensi go out before them to set stuff up or go surfing, actually checking the area for suspicious people.<p>

Before they know it, it's the end of May, the water's great and the air is warm. Callen had called and said they were going to storm a building where they suspected Cheryl and Rob were being held.

All day, Kensi finds herself pacing around the house. Waiting for her phone to ring with some news, any news. She wanted to believe no news was good news, but knew that wasn't entirely true all the time. She was starting to understand the stress Eric and Nell and Hetty went through almost on a daily basis. She and Deeks hadn't really talked since the call, Sarah hadn't been feeling well, and had been sleeping all day. Reese had something like this last week so Kensi wasn't too worried and Amy told her how to treat it. Children's NyQuil and sleep. It seemed to be an early summer cold.

She finally stops pacing when Deeks grabs her hand as she walks by and pulls her down next to him on the couch. She puts her feet up and leans back into his chest staring at her knees in front of her.

Deeks hadn't been exactly himself lately either. He was worried about Sarah and her parents. He wanted them to be okay, but this new piece of information hadn't helped his nerves. It did give him a little hope that maybe they were still alive.

He knew two months was an incredibly long time to still be alive. But then again, these weren't normal circumstances. They didn't really have a reason to kill or kidnap them. He knew a twist would come, but he was hoping it wouldn't come down to using them as leverage for something.

Kensi falls asleep against his stomach, and he situates himself next to her on the couch, spooning her into himself as he turned so they were both facing the couch. Soon he was asleep too, these last few weeks hadn't let them sleep much.

He feels Kensi stirring in his arms and quickly tightens them around her, letting her know where she is. She has a tendency to jump and push him off the couch, or chair, or wherever they are, whenever she's confused as to where she is. Of coarse that doesn't happen in bed.

She looks over her shoulder at him and gives him her little half smile. He kisses her cheek and she rolls over to face him. They both check their phones and see there's no messages or missed calls. He sees the worry cross her eyes again and pulls her in closer, kissing the top of her head as her arms wrap around him.

"Do you think something happened?" she whispers in his ear.

"If it did, we'd have heard by now. You know either Hetty, Eric, or Callen will call." Nell normally would be on the list, but seeing how she was in the field, Callen would beat her to it if they were the first with info.

She nods against his shoulder and they both sit up. Michaela is sleeping in her little playpen and they can hear Sarah's steady breathing over the monitor.

They see it's past two and the raid should be taking place now. _Any minute now._ They both are thinking the same thing and he pulls her back down beside him and rests his chin on her head.

About an hour and a half later, his phone rings. Kensi tries to sit up, but he pulls her back down and puts the phone between their ears.

"We found them. Their pretty banged up, and both took a couple bullets. The ambulance is here now."

"Are they alive?" Deeks asks.

"Yeah, unconscious, but they're hanging in there." the unspoken words_ for now _hung in the air.

"Where are they taking them?" Kensi asks, she hears Callen talking to someone, presumably a paramedic.

"Olympia Medical Center." She glances at Deeks as the call ends.

"That's not good." she says, they know Olympia is where they take people with critical injuries and wounds.

"No, no it's not." he says pulling her in.

"Should we tell her?"

"Not yet. Let's wait until they're in the condition for visitation before telling her, that way she doesn't have to worry until she sees them."

She nods her head at this, they get up and realize how hungry they are, she helps Deeks make dinner, baked chicken with green beans and Italian bread.

Sarah comes down, smelling dinner coming out of the oven. She wipes her eyes with the back of her hand before Kensi picks her up. "Feeling better yet honey?" she asks softly as she presses the back of her hand against the little girls head, thankfully she doesn't seem to have a fever.

Sarah just nods her head a little, and Kensi knows that means she's still a little under the weather. She carries her over to the table and sits with Sarah on her lap, trying to get her to eat a little more. She didn't want to eat the green beans but Kensi's just happy she ate most of her chicken and a few nibbles of bread. She hadn't eaten much in a couple days and Kensi had been following Amy's advice and putting tasteless vitamin powder in her orange juice in the morning, trying to keep her immune system up.

Michaela's now almost to the age of starting solid foods. The pediatrician had told them she was developing very well and it would be okay to start her on solids when she was four months old. That was a couple weeks away, but the doctor had told them to try to get her to try these baby cereal pieces that basically dissolved the second they touched your tongue. Kensi had tried one and they weren't even entirely that bad. They were like strawberry flavored cereal pieces.

Deeks was putting them on her tray of her high chair and she was moving them around. She seemed to like them, but liked playing with them more, ending with about half of them (or more) on the floor.

Kensi was sweeping them up when Deeks stopped what he was doing in the kitchen and walked to the end of the island where he could see her better. "Monty would clean those up faster." he says.

She whirls around, he hadn't mentioned Monty the entire three months they'd been here, honestly she'd completely forgotten about his beloved mutt.

"would he?" she says, not quite sure where he's going.

"Yes, he would, can he come here after all this is over?" he gives her his best puppy eyes.

"Yeah, sure." she says as if it was nothing and goes back to sweeping. He knows it's more than that. She's letting him bring in pieces of his old life, even though he's not going back, he knows she's thinking about how it might change things. Not just the dog, but going back to work, going back to how things used to be, they'd been living in this other world for the past three months, that's a quarter of a year, and they were both just struck with the reality of having to go back in a couple weeks. Depending on how fast Sarah's parents recover, it could really be anywhere from a few days, to weeks, to possibly even a month.

A week later, they're down on the beach when Callen shows up, and guess who he's with, Christina. Apparently their 'thing' didn't end that night, and she'd been over at his place. Christina wasn't ever down on the beach, she left before dawn and was back at night. Running her own business kept her busy so nobody'd really suspected anything.

Callen and Christina sit down about ten feet away and Kensi gets it when Callen glances at her then Christina then at the water.

"Hey, Christina, want to go down and see what the water's like? It's been pretty warm the past few days."

"Sure" Christina follows Kensi down to the water. While Christina is watching the boats and surfers, Kensi tries to read Callen's lips. Sarah's playing with one of the Delp kids down the beach a little. She hadn't noticed Callen yet, which was probably a good thing.

* * *

><p>"Her parents made a full recovery and are back home now. You can take her back when they want, the doctor just released them yesterday, so they'll probably be calling soon." Deeks isn't sure what he's feeling. He's so happy that Sarah's parents made it, and he's been itching for some action back at work, but at the same time, he really is going to miss her. She seems like she's become their child, and it's almost like he's losing her.<p>

"That's great news." he says, although he suspects Callen sees right through this.

* * *

><p>Kensi caught the part about her parents being okay, but then they turned and she couldn't see their lips anymore.<p>

"So, you and Callen, is it official?" Kensi asks.

"I think so, I mean he's a really great guy, and we've been together every night since the barbeque."

Kensi smiles, Callen's 'no more than six weeks rule' apparently had been ditched. It had been eight weeks and he didn't seem to be getting ready to end it anytime soon, the way he was holding her hand as they walked down to the beach.

The girls walk back up to them and Kensi dries her legs off, they'd only gone in to about her knees, she didn't even plan on getting wet today, so she uses Deeks' towel.

Sarah notices Callen and comes running over and pretty much tackles him onto the sand. Kensi and Deeks laugh at their fearless leaders shocked face as the six year old knocks him flat on his back.

"Well someone's certainly feeling better." Callen says, remembering she'd had a cold the last time he'd talked to Kensi.

Sarah just laughs and gets off of him, settling herself in the little beach chair near the blankets. Kensi puts more sunscreen on her as she drinks her juice bag. The baby was under the little hooded pool they'd bought and even though she was in a little seat meant to keep her sitting up, Kensi was still watching her like a hawk, terrified that it would tip over.

Callen pulls out a bag and hands everyone a sub from Sub Way. Sarah is happy with her meatball six inch and eats it in record speed. The rest of them have foot longs and Kensi laughs as a sea gull tries to take Deeks' last bite, but growing up on the beach he knew how to protect it and covers it with his hand as he ducks behind her.

"Real mature, protect your sandwich by hiding behind me." she laughs as he finishes his last couple bites quickly.

"Nobody ever said I was." he gives her his goofy smile and she can't help herself when she leans in to kiss him quickly on the cheek before settling herself against his shoulder as they watch Sarah dig a hole until she hits water.

They stay on the beach until sunset and then say goodbye to Callen and Christina as they pack up their own things.

It takes them a good ten minutes to get everything into the stroller that they now referred to as 'the beach buggy' because that's pretty much all they used it for. The extreme tread and extra storage made it a little bulky to take out, so they'd bought a smaller stroller for in the car. Sarah goes straight up to take a shower as she always did when they got home, she didn't like having sand all over and they didn't complain, it meant less for them to clean up.

When they hear the water start, Kensi starts questioning. "What did Callen say, I caught the part about them making a full recovery, but couldn't make out the rest."

"Callen says that they were released yesterday and that we should expect a call to take Sarah home anytime now, although it might be a few days, we all know how exhausting it is coming home from the hospital, and they've been informed that we can keep her until they are 100% recovered and ready for her to come home." Kensi nods, and he sees her having the same conflicting feelings as he is.

* * *

><p>They wait and days turn into weeks and there's still no call. Kensi's getting worried and calls Callen to check up on them to make sure everything's going okay.<p>

He calls back a few minutes later. "They're okay, they just are both having trouble getting around, the bullets they took in their legs have them both on crutches or wheelchairs until physical therapy starts to help more, they don't want to scare Sarah so they would like her to stay there a little longer if you don't mind."

"Oh, no, she's welcome to stay as long as they need." she replies. The call ends and she repeats it all to Deeks.

"So we have her for a little longer? That's great." She nods, she knows to have fun with these last few weeks because she won't have this experience again.

* * *

><p>June passes quickly and they're getting ready for the big fourth of July celebration the neighborhood has every year down on the beach. There's a huge bonfire, cookout, and they even have a magician come in for the kids. Sarah's really excited about it and Kensi is too. Deeks is getting Michaela ready in her new red white and blue dress and she's doing the same with Sarah in the nursery bathroom.<p>

"Here, let me help you." Kensi says, as Sarah unsuccessfully tries to braid her own hair.

"No, mom, I can do it." Kensi freezes at the word, Sarah turns around quickly.

"Sorry, I just..."

"It's okay." Kensi smiles and Sarah hands her the brush and hair tie and she french braids the little girl's hair.

Deeks had heard Sarah's slip through the open door of the bathroom, and he's glad Kensi handled it so well. He knew this wasn't good, Sarah would have to go home soon and she couldn't become too attached.

He looks down at the baby and puts the little red and blue bows in her hair that was now long enough to do so.

Looking at her, he had to admit, she was looking more and more like Kensi every day, apart from the hair, which looked like his. The baby's eye wasn't as dramatically dark as Kensi's, it mainly just darkened the colored part of her eye, and a little of the inner corner, but it wasn't as noticeable as Kensi's which colored almost her entire eye.

Kensi comes out, followed by Sarah. They'd bought matching dresses for the girls, and they looked so cute. Sarah didn't have the bows like Michaela, but Kensi had weaved in red, silver, and blue hair tinsel to Sarah's braid.

They dress themselves, Kensi wears a red, white, and blue plaid button up shirt that matches Deeks' shirt pattern and colors. They'd found them while shopping for the girls and decided to match, just for the day. Kensi wears a pair of small white cutoff shorts and Deeks wears a pair of white cargo shorts. She knows they won't be white very long, but they won't be wearing the clothes long either. They'll be ditched pretty much as soon as they get to the beach.

* * *

><p>Down by the pool, he's set up a camera pointing towards the ocean, they gather and the camera snaps away. He lowers the tripod to a few inches off the ground and they position themselves. Kensi and Deeks lean against eachother's backs, both with their back leg propped up. Sarah sits, leaning against Kensi, and they lean Michaela up against Deeks. Then there's a few of them all laying on the ground together, the girls in between. There are so many pictures, Kensi can't quite pick a favorite, but she definitely likes the ones of them sitting, laying, and holding the girls. She finds one, it wasn't even a planned shot, but the camera had caught it anyway. Sarah was in Deeks' arms and Michaela was in hers. Sarah had leaned in and so had Michaela, their foreheads were touching and Kensi and Deeks had smiles on their faces as they looked at each other.<p>

_We look like a family._ Kensi is finally struck with the thought. She'd been unsuccessful at getting pregnant, which she had expected to happen. They hadn't had much time to try again, but she wasn't in a hurry. But looking at the picture, she wishes her life could be as happy as she was in that moment forever.

They go back inside and open up the laptop to send off their favorites to be developed and plan to pick them up the next day to add to the wall.

The wall was accumulating photos faster then expected. There were now an assortment of frame sizes and new photos filling them. Many containing Sarah. Kensi knew these would stay on the wall, even after she went back home.

Sarah had run upstairs to grab something for the beach and Deeks finally gets his chance to talk to her about earlier.

"Kensi," She looks up at him from the chair next to him at the table. "She called you 'mom' this morning."

She takes a deep breath. "Yeah, it's been on my mind all morning." she finally says looking back up at him, she tells him something he hadn't thought of "She said it took _two years _for her to call Cheryl and Rob 'mom and dad', and she hasn't even been here four months."

The seriousness hits him, she's completely right. _What do we do now, it wasn't just a slip of tongue,she calls them 'mom and dad' but I've only actually heard her do it once. She only did it I think because she couldn't get their attention and there were other people around. What are we going to do? _

He takes a few deep breaths before meeting her eyes again. "Okay, let's just forget that happened this morning and say it was just an accident. If it happens again, then we'll have to talk about what we'll do."

She nods, and he can see she doesn't think it was just a slip either, Sarah had probably been thinking of them as her mom and dad for a while now and she'd just been careful not to let it come out, but the frustration of not being able to do something and not wanting help made her say it without thinking.

_Okay, I'll go with it, but I don't believe it was a slip. Sarah has a good filter between her mind and her mouth. I know that because she's not mentioned NCIS to anyone, nor has she mentioned what actually is happening with her parents. If she said this, she has to be more attached than we thought, enough that even her filters didn't catch this. But, maybe she just had her guard down and it did slip, I'm going to just hope for that, but if she calls either of us 'mom' or 'dad' again, we'll have to talk. I don't know what yet, but something will have to be said._

* * *

><p>They don't realize Sarah had been halfway down the steps when the conversation started. She'd sat and listened to the whole thing. <em>Did I mean to call her mom? I know Kensi's not my mom, but it feels like it sometimes. And she's right about how it took me two years to call Cheryl that, and it's only been a little bit and I already called her mom. What do they mean 'they'll have to talk' if I call them mom or dad? Do I want to just to see what happens? I don't know. I kind of want to stay here, and I definitely am attached to them and Michaela. She's like my little sister.<em>

Sarah tip toes back to her bedroom to think more. _Maybe I should just tell them that. I mean, they have pictures of me on their walls, they look out for me and take care of me when I'm sick, Cheryl usually just gave me chicken soup and told me to go back to bed. I don't think they ever really wanted a kid, and now their kind of stuck with me. I need to tell them, but I don't think I can just come out and say it._

Kensi comes in and Sarah acts like she's looking for something in her drawers. "Sweetie, you need help finding something?" Kensi asks her in a soft and caring tone as she bends down to the little girl's level.

"I can't find my other flip flop." She had deliberately pushed it under the bed so they wouldn't have known she was up to anything.

Kensi helps her search her room, making her bed in the process. Bending down to pick up a stuffed animal she'd won at the pier, she finds the shoe.

"Here it is!" Kensi says placing the purple bear on the bed.

She puts it down and Sarah looks up at her with these eyes that completely melt her. She picks the little girl up and hugs her, kissing her cheek before setting her back down. Sarah picks up her bag and laughs as she jumps onto Kensi's back from the bed she's standing on.

Just in those few minutes, Sarah's made her decision.

**_So I decided to give Sarah a voice, I realized I hadn't done that and obviously she has thoughts about what's going on too. Let me know what you think!_**


	7. Fourth of July and Legalities

_**I know this is the second in one weekend, but I'm going to be very busy this week, so I don't know if there will be one up next week. Hope you like it! My new story called "More Than Just a Partner" is up, I hope you get a chance to read it, it's also a Kensi/Deeks story.**_

* * *

><p>Kensi carried Sarah downstairs and put on her own sandals. The beach buggy was overflowing with pinwheels Deeks had insisted on buying for the kids, sodas, juices, and a desert Kensi had made all on her own.<p>

She'd remembered making this one with her mom, and Sarah had assisted her as she told her about it. The fourth of july cake was simple, really. You bought everything at the grocery store, ready to go. The first layer is the angel food cake. Next comes the layer of strawberries, then the blueberry layer, banana slices are the last layer of fruit. Then you pour vanilla pudding all over it and top it with a thick layer of cool whip.

This was a desert Kensi looked forward to every year. It was delicious and not entirely unhealthy, which Deeks liked.

The container holding the desert took up almost the entire bottom part of the stroller, leaving the seat Michaela wasn't big enough for, to sit almost everything else in.

They make their way down to the beach where music's already playing and voices are carrying back to their house.

The beach is decorated for the occasion, red white and blue streamers along everyone's fences, flags hung from each of their doors, and even beaded necklaces and toys for the kids when they arrived. Deeks set the pinwheels on the table with the Frisbees, beach balls, squirt guns, and other things for the kids.

The desert joined the other things on a table inside a kiddie pool filled with ice to keep things cold.

"Your family looks so cute today, I would never get my husband to wear a shirt matching mine, and the girls look absolutely adorable!" Kensi smiles at Lynn Delp, who keeps raving about how much Michaela looked like her.

Kensi doesn't know why she doesn't correct Lynn and tell her that Sarah's not really their daughter, and they're not even married, but shrugs and decides she doesn't feel like explaining.

* * *

><p>The boom box is playing classic music and she laughs as she sees Sarah running towards Loren, she'd called Sam the night before and invited him to bring her over and stay for the party. Amy had said she could invite a few friends, and figured Callen would show up with Christina, and it didn't seem right to leave Sam out, and besides, Loren and Sarah had become best friends already.<p>

"Sarah, honey, come put sunscreen on." Kensi calls down to the little girl who says something to her friend before running back. It's only about nine in the morning, but Kensi doesn't want her to burn. Plus, it's very difficult to put sunscreen on a sand covered little girl.

She'd found this instant dry spray to use on Sarah, who liked it better then the lotion they'd been using on both her and Michaela, and it took about a quarter of the time for it to be put on.

Kensi looks at Sarah and Michaela In their matching bathing suits, American flag designed. The tops had little ruffles and were red and white striped, the bottoms, of coarse, had skirts that were navy blue with white stars.

Deeks was also putting sunscreen on and had ditched the shorts and was now wearing bright red swim trunks. She unbuttoned her shirt and he walked up behind her to help her out of it. The shorts he let her do herself, knowing they were at a party with people and kids all around. Kensi had on a bikini that matched the girl's bottoms, it was navy with white stars and the only difference was the red ties on the side of the bikini bottoms and on the back of the top. She'd left her hair down today, but was sure it wouldn't stay that way long.

* * *

><p>Sure enough, about half an hour after they arrive Deeks leans in and says "Look who's here" she glances down the beach and sees Callen and Christina walking hand in hand towards them.<p>

"Well you guys look patriotic." Callen comments as he reaches them. Kensi was holding Michaela and Deeks' arm was around her waist.

"Yeah, where's your holiday spirit?" Kensi asks.

"Blue swim shorts count." he says and then she sees Christina has on a bright red bikini.

"Okay, I guess if you guys stand together you might be okay." she says with a tone of light teasing in her voice.

She quickly hands Michaela to Deeks as she goes to help Sarah get a little juice thing out of the pool on the table. It was this little barrel looking thing with bright blue juice inside. The label said 'Hugs'. She handed Sarah it as Loren ran up, she was wearing a tankini, it was red white and blue striped with stars in the same colors. Her hair was also pulled back into a braid, but hers was just out of a pony tail.

She was proud of herself for managing to do Sarah's hair so well this morning, she'd not done a french braid on someone else's hair since she was a kid. The hair tinsel they'd found at the mall looked so cute, reflecting the sun, it was even more noticeable. She helped Loren and gave her the red Hug she was reaching for.

There was a life guard the neighborhood had all pitched in to hire for the day so they could relax a little more on their private beach.

He was just arriving as Kensi was making her way back to Deeks from getting the juices for the girls. He stopped in front of her.

"Hey." he says eying her up.

Deeks is already on his way over and puts his arm around her waist. Handing her Michaela she replies "Hi, now I have to get going, bye." She smiles and lets out a breath of frustration.

"Okay, I'll give you that one. You didn't so much glance at him and he was already trying to flirt with you. Doesn't he realize he's like, what, six years younger than you?"

They watch as he takes his place in the rented life chair, and the kids head out to the area they'd marked off with red, white, and blue buoys.

"Sarah, you can go swim, but do NOT go outside the lines okay? Even if there's a pretty shell, you can get it later when we come in." Sarah nods.

"Okay, I promise." Kensi puts her little water wings on and Sarah grabs the beach ball that she and Loren had been playing with.

Loren was about three inches taller than Sarah, but that didn't seem to bother either of them. She watched as Loren ran down with her water wings on and met Sarah at the water's edge. The waves weren't breaking hard today, and there weren't even that many of them, which was good because Kensi didn't have to worry about them pulling her under. She's happy the lifeguard seems to be paying close attention to the kids and seems to have forgotten about looking at the girls. He'd better not take his eyes off the water, he was being payed a lot of money.

They watch the kids play and the guys decide to head down to the water. Kensi, Christina, Lynn, and Sam's wife Brie, head down too. They only go in to about their ankles and the water feels great, they'll definitely go swimming before the night is over.

"wait until you guys see the fire works tonight. We've got the best view. They set them off right past the fence down there and they're aimed at the sky in front of us. They always go over the top with them, and I heard this year's supposed to be the best yet."

Kensi can't help but get excited about it herself. Kensi laughs and bumps Christina with her elbow, guiding her eyes over to Callen, who had just been attacked by the little girls.

"He seems to be pretty good with kids, I never thought he would be." Kensi says as they watch Sarah climb on his back and Loren throw the beach ball at him.

"Yeah, I never really thought he seemed like the type of guy to like kids, he's so serious all the time."

"we are always telling him to lighten up, but he doesn't seem to know how."

"He seems pretty relaxed right now."

"Yeah, he does."

They watch them for a while before Kensi pulls her hair up and wades out to them. She's in almost to her silver and blue belly button ring when she feels someone scoop her up and throw her in.

She comes up and sees Deeks standing over her, who she quickly takes down with a swift movement of her leg and the push of her arm. She sees the lifeguard's eyebrows go up behind his sunglasses, clearly not expecting someone her size to be able to take down Deeks.

"Yeah, you go girl!" Lynn calls and she sees all her new friends laughing as Deeks comes back up and attempts to tackle her, which she turns on him and he ends up going down instead. He comes back up and holds his hands up in surrender.

He catches his breath before pulling her into a hug and a quick kiss. He loves the look he sees in her eyes. Pure happiness. This is the first time he's seen it without something else on her face that blocked the smile from reaching her eyes like it was now.

They get out of the water and return to the women, Brie is now playing with Michaela.

She'd handed Michaela to Amy before she got in, but the little girl seemed to like everyone.

They all go back to the blankets and Kensi sits and holds Michaela, helping her sit up, all the sudden She leans forward and grabs her own ankles leaving Kensi's supportive hand. She pulls back as Michaela lets go, and she doesn't fall over.

"Marty!" he turns to look and sees the little girl sitting on her own for the first time, the biggest smiles are on all three of their faces as he takes a picture of the baby.

"How old is she now?" Lynn asks.

"Five months today." Kensi says just now realizing it herself.

"well then enjoy these last few weeks before she learns to crawl, because after that, you have to watch them like a hawk."

Kensi nods at the woman's words. She definitely knows what she's talking about, she has three of her own kids.

The piles of pizza arrive for lunch and everyone lines up to get some.

Sarah and Loren eat together, each on their own blankets which are set only a couple feet apart.

* * *

><p>The life guard has a two hour break at lunch and of course, that's when all hell breaks loose. One of the kids went under and without thinking the trio takes off, leaving their kids with the other women. Kensi reaches the water first, being the quickest to sprint short distances.<p>

She dives into the water and reaches the child just as his hand disappears from view. She can barely touch and feels the current pulling her. Thankfully, Sam reaches her and grabs her as she struggles to hold the child and swim at the same time. They get to shallower water and Sam scoops up the limp body and sprints to shore just as the lifeguard gets back. He'd seen the whole thing happen, walking back from his car across the street from the beach.

Sam starts CPR as Deeks calls for an ambulance. By the time the life guard reaches them, the little boy is coughing and spitting up water. They all breathe a sigh of relief when his eyes open. His mother is crying and holding his hand as Kensi wraps him in a towel.

By the time the ambulance gets there, he's already sitting up and talking to the three agents. The paramedic examines him sitting by the back of the ambulance and quickly deems him fit to return to the party without a visit to the hospital.

* * *

><p>Kensi notices the life guard looking a little shaken up and walks over.<p>

"You've never seen anyone drown before, have you?" She says as he takes his eyes from the child sitting on the ground by the ambulance.

"No, I didn't expect to have it happen today either."

"Always expect the unexpected." He sees him looking at her clearly wanting to ask her something.

"How'd you guys know what to do?"

"Oh, we work for LAPD, it's part of our basic training."

He laughs, "Learning how to drop kick part of that too?"

She smiles, "Yeah, actually, I've taken down all three of them with the taser." his eyes widen and she leans in and whispers a little. "Don't tell them I told you that, they don't like to admit they've been taken down by a girl half their size."

He smiles and nods as he holds his hand out. "I'm Jeremy, by the way."

"Kensi." she replies shaking his hand.

"So are those your kids?" he says gesturing over towards Michaela and Sarah, who were back with the other women and Deeks who was trying to calm the children down, and seemingly succeeding.

"The baby is, the other little girl, uh... no she's not my daughter." he just nods, assuming she's Deeks daughter.

"And is that you're husband?"

"No." she says as Deeks starts walking over in her direction as the ambulance pulls away.

"Hey, someone wants her mommy." he brings a fussing Michaela over to her and she takes her from his arms.

Jeremy turns to Deeks. "Thanks, man, for helping out."

"Ah, it's nothing, didn't really even have to think about it, really." Kensi nods at him.

"Jeremy, this is Marty. Marty, Jeremy." she says quickly introducing them at Deeks questioning glance.

Sam comes over and Jeremy thanks him too.

"Probably would be a good idea to keep the kids out of the water. The current's changing, and I know you felt it too." Kensi nods, remembering the feeling of her legs being pulled as she swam. "Grady looks like he's okay now, a little shaken up, but he didn't get much water in his lungs and just has to get checked out tomorrow."

It turns out the little boy was a friend of the Taylor's son and was only five. His mother comes over to thank them and give each of them a hug.

"Well hopefully that's the last event until the fireworks."

* * *

><p>About an hour later the magician shows up and the kids are entertained for an hour and a half by magic, then another hour and a half by balloon animals.<p>

"Look, Kensi! It's a monkey!" Sarah says as she comes running back. She has had three red, white, and blue little stars painted on her cheek by one of the mothers.

"Wow, that's so cool!" Kensi says to the excited little girl. Sarah puts the balloon in the basket of the beach buggy and runs back down the beach with the other kids who are going to be doing a three legged race.

The parents go and watch. Sarah and Loren tie their legs and ankles together with some assistance from Sam. The bandanas have to wrap around twice because they're so small.

"On your mark, get set, GO!" shouts Christina, who'd helped set this little game up.

They all laugh as Sarah and Loren quickly overtake the older kids. Even though Sarah was inches shorter than Loren, their legs were the same length, making it easy to run.

Kensi gave Sarah a big hug. "Great job, little girl!" Sarah is beaming, Sam's picking up Loren as Christina hands them these little, plastic, gold metals. The second place got silver, third got bronze, and the rest of the kids got red white and blue ones. This way everyone got a prize. Some of the older kids seem a little disappointed that they just lost to six year olds.

* * *

><p>They have grilled chicken for dinner and it's getting close to sunset, meaning the fireworks will be starting soon. Jeremy was invited to stay, and he was sitting nearby. The kids seemed to like him and Sarah and Loren were sitting near him.<p>

"They've already got their eyes on the lifeguard's." Callen comments and usually Kensi would elbow him, but he's too far away, so she just smiles and shakes her head.

The setting sun colored the water in bright red hues. The chilly night ocean breeze picked up and Kensi could feel her teeth start to chatter. Deeks ran back to the house to grab sweatshirts for them. He didn't want to miss the fireworks so he just grabbed two of his own, one of Sarah's and an extra blanket for the three of them along with one for Michaela.

"Thanks." Kensi says as she pulls on one of his LAPD hoodies as he pulled on another. Sarah put on her little red and white tie dye sweatshirt and returned to playing with Loren. She's on her way back to them to watch the fireworks that are starting soon.

The first one goes up and booms. It scares Sarah and she jumps. "Daddy!" She shrieks as she jumps into his arms. He and Kensi glance at each other and she shuts her eyes, now what will they do?

He looks around, nobody seems to have heard her, and if they did, they didn't say anything. Sam and Callen are watching the fireworks. He strokes her hair as she stiffens at the sound of another firework. Eventually she gets used to the noise and turns around to watch them. Michaela is screaming at this point and Kensi is trying, unsuccessfully, to calm her.

The grand finale comes and she just decides that the baby's not going to stop so she snuggles up next to Deeks and Sarah puts her head on Kensi's shoulder.

The fireworks end and a simultaneous round of applause can be heard coming from miles down the beach.

Everyone says their goodbyes and retreats to their houses. Deeks and Jeremy were now close friends now. He'd found out Jeremy lived in Reseda, in the same neighborhood he'd grown up in. They exchange one of those awkward one handed man hugs and Jeremy walks back between the fences to his car.

* * *

><p>Sarah goes to shower. <em>Did they catch that? I <strong>did<strong> mean to call him that tonight. I hope he did. It's the only way I could think of to get them to talk about it. I don't know what that is, but I don't want to leave. I want to stay here with Kensi as my mom and Marty as my dad and Michaela as my baby sister._

* * *

><p>Kensi and Deeks are sitting on the barstools at the island when they look at each other, both thinking the same thing.<p>

"She called you 'daddy'." She looks in his eyes.

"Yeah, and what freaks me out, is that she's never even called Rob that, it was always dad."

"This is getting really complicated." Kensi rubs her temples and rests her elbows on the counter.

"Yeah, yeah it is." he exhales and rubs her back.

He pulls out his cell phone and Kensi sits up giving him a questioning glance. He dials the only person he can think of.

"Hello, Mr. Deeks." Hetty's familiar voice comes over the speaker.

"Hetty, we might have a little problem here with Sarah."

"Oh, is that so, and what might this 'problem' be?"

"Uh, she called Kensi mom this morning and just called me daddy. We think she's getting too attached. What are we supposed to do Hetty? She didn't call Cheryl and Rob that for two years!"

"I think that's out of my hands, Mr. Deeks, but I suspect you can come up with a solution. You are a lawyer Mr. Deeks."

"Got to go Hetty, Sarah just got out of the shower." he hangs up and turns to Kensi who's looking at him expectantly.

"What did she say?"

"She said it was out of her hands. Oh!" he jumps and runs upstairs, leaving Kensi really confused. She takes Michaela out of the stroller and takes her up to get her ready for bed. She hasn't seen Deeks or Sarah since they came upstairs.

She walks down the hallway and peeks into Sarah's room. The little girl is sitting on her bed looking at the picture of Cheryl and Rob she had in her suitcase.

"Hey, you okay?" Kensi tries to stay calm, obviously the little girl was struggling with her conflicting thoughts.

"I'm fine."

"Don't tell me you're fine when you're really not." Comes Deeks' voice as he enters the room and walks with Kensi over to Sarah, they sit on either side of her.

"I don't know what to think anymore. I want to go home, but I don't want to leave." she looks up at Kensi then at Deeks.

"Well you're eventually going to have to go back." Kensi says, not wanting her to go either.

"I know." Sarah starts crying and Kensi knows it's not just sleep deprivation that has the girl crying for the first time in the five months she's been here.

They both wrap their arms around the little girl and try to calm her. She's hiccuping a little but the tears have stopped.

"I miss them, but I want to stay with you. I don't think Cheryl and Rob ever wanted kids and then they had to take me. Because their my only family I have left. But I want to stay with you." Kensi looks at Deeks, he sees in her eyes that she looks terrified, and he knows it's because this is one of those extremely rare occasions when Kensi doesn't even know where to look for a solution.

"Okay, okay." Sarah looks up at him. "We have to talk Sarah, Cheryl and Rob miss you, but let's not make any decisions tonight." she looks up at both of them with hope in her eyes.

"Sarah, there's something we need to tell you." Kensi starts. "Cheryl and Rob were shot a couple months ago and they've been home a while now. They're going to call any day now for you to come home."

Sarah thinks about this for a while then practically explodes. "What! Why didn't you tell me! They're family! Why would you hide something like that from me!" in saying this she'd jumped up and started pacing her room.

Deeks lets out an amused breath. The girls look at him with the same glare. "Sorry, it's just you act so much like Kensi sometimes, it's scary."

Sarah relaxes a little and turns back to them for an explanation. "We didn't want you to worry Sarah, you were just starting to be happy again when we found out. You were also sick the day it happened."

"Oh." Sarah says. _They were protecting me? Why would they do that? I'm not their daughter, but I wish I was. I really want to stay, but I don't want to hurt Cheryl and Rob. Why is this all so confusing?_

Kensi watches Sarah process this and they leave her alone and go to their bedroom, leaving the doors cracked so they could hear her if she needed them.

"She called them Cheryl and Rob." Kensi says as soon as their in their room.

"yeah, and she basically said she wanted to stay and live with us."

"Please tell me you have a solution to this?" Kensi is almost begging him, seeing his various books from law school spread across the bed.

"I think so. But Cheryl and Rob would have to agree. There's this thing, and it's not used often, but it gives the child a right to change who is their guardian if they've lost their parents and both parties agree. I don't know if it would work, but it's really the only option we have."

Kensi takes a deep breath after reading the conditions of the guardianship change. "It's a long stretch, but it might. I want Cheryl and Rob to be 100% behind this though. I don't want to take her away from them if they want her."

"I also don't want Sarah to feel stuck in a house that doesn't love her." Kensi meets his eyes as he says this, knowing he knows better than her, what Sarah's going through. Cheryl and Rob didn't physically abuse her, but emotionally, Sarah was a mess.

_It makes sense why she seems so mature for her age, she's had to look out for herself. She doesn't feel loved and feels like she's on her own. I can't even imagine growing up like that. I know they're not really trying to hurt her, but they obviously don't know how to take care of a child. Sarah didn't even seem that comfortable around them._ The last thought hits her hard. How could she have missed that. The second Sarah was out of Cheryl's arms she was in Kensi's. She had melted into her arms, when she was in Cheryl's, she was tense and wary of the touch.

"Okay, we need to talk to them. Should we bring Sarah?" She asks him finally.

"No, not this time." They leave the bedroom and go back to Sarah, who's downstairs watching TV.

"Sarah, it's time for bed."

They tuck her in and go to their bedroom. Fireworks continue in the distance throughout the night.

* * *

><p>The next morning they take Sarah and Michaela over to the Taylor's house. They said they had some errands to run and Amy gladly accepted watching the kids.<p>

Sarah had given them a suspicious look as she said goodbye, but didn't question anymore.

They get into Kensi's car and she drives for the first time in a while. He doesn't object. He knows she needs something to take her mind off of things and driving would hopefully give her something to focus on. They stop on the way to pick up their pictures.

"Kens, you sure you're okay?" She looks over at him. "I mean what are you going to do if they say no?" She takes a deep breath.

"Then I guess it's up to Sarah. It's her choice either way. I don't want to have it come down to that though."

He nods and is glad she understands.

They pull up to a small house near the diner. They go and knock on the door. Rob answers.

"Hello, I wasn't expecting to see you today." He looks confused.

"We need to talk to you about Sarah." Deeks tells him.

"Come in." He's still on a crutch that supports his right half of his body.

Cheryl is sitting on the couch in the small living room. Kensi looks around and notices how cold and dark it is. The walls are a brown color and there's no pictures on the walls. The furniture is old and made of dark fabric.

"Is she behaving?" Cheryl asks.

"Yeah," Deeks takes a deep breath. "Oh this is awkward, uh... yesterday Sarah called us mom and daddy. We're afraid she's getting too attached."

"Yeah, I'd say she's past attached." Rob says. He stares at the floor in front of him. Kensi can't tell if he's mad, sad, or just unsettled.

"She didn't call me mom for two years." Cheryl adds looking at her husband.

"I think we all need to talk to her and figure out what's going on." Rob says. Deeks is glad they're on the same page. Kensi and Deeks nod at them and tell them they can come back today if they want.

* * *

><p>They help Cheryl and Rob into the back of the car and Deeks drives.<p>

"I'm sure you understand what we went through when we took Sarah in." Cheryl says. Kensi looks at the woman in the back seat and nods.

"It was a difficult day. Finding out a loved one died and then taking in their little girl, that has to be the most difficult day of my life. I didn't ever really plan on having kids, but then Michaela came along, and there was no way I was going to let her go to the foster system."

Cheryl gives Kensi a half smile, "But you like being a mom now?"

"Yeah, I guess I do, we've kind of been thinking about having our own now. You never thought about it?"

"No, I never wanted kids, and I feel bad about it, but I still don't want to be. I take care of Sarah, but when she started calling me 'mom' I didn't feel like I deserved the title. I felt like she was just trying to get over losing her real mom and still feel that's the only reason she calls me that."

Kensi gives the woman a sympathetic look. "Not everyone's cut out for it."

The rest of the ride is spent in silence, Deeks holds her hand on the console and gives her a small smile.

* * *

><p>They get back to the house and Kensi goes to pick up Sarah and Michaela from the beach where they were playing in the sand. Nobody had wanted to go swimming after the scare yesterday.<p>

Deeks situates them on the sofa as they look at the photos on the wall behind them.

"Those are great pictures." Rob says, locking his eyes on the ones Deeks was hanging up from the previous day.

Deeks doesn't say anything. He just looks at the picture of them holding the girls, then at the one of Michaela sitting on the blanket. He smiles, he's so proud of her, and is starting to get why parents seemed to brag about their children.

They watch as Kensi comes back carrying Michaela and Sarah running around her as Kensi tries to rinse her off in the outdoor shower.

"Why do I have to shower out here?" Sarah complains as Kensi rinses her off.

"Because I said so." Sarah steps out and Kensi bends down to dry her off. Michaela was on a towel in the grass, propping herself up on her forarms, watching the two girls.

Kensi bends down to pick up Michaela and the towel and Sarah grabs her hand. She smiles down at the little girl.

Sarah's laughing as they walk into the house. She looks up and sees Cheryl and Rob. Her grip tightens on Kensi's hand and she looked up at Kensi with these slightly scared eyes. Kensi squeezes her hand gently and gives her a reassuring smile. Instead of going over to them, she follows Kensi as she puts Michaela in her swing.

Kensi picks up Sarah and sits in the arm chair with Deeks. "Sarah, sweetie, we need to talk, all of us."

_So this is what they meant when they said they'd have to talk, I hope it's not bad._

She looks at the crutches by the couch as Cheryl smiles at her.

Rob glances back at the photos of Sarah on the wall and with tears in his eyes reaches out his arms for her.

"We missed you Sar." He says as Kensi pushes her forward. Sarah sits between them on the couch. Kensi can't help but notice how Sarah seems to look stiff and uncomfortable and she tries to maintain eye contact with her, trying to help keep her calm with a little smile saying 'you're going to be okay, we just are worried about you'.

Cheryl gives her a squeeze around the shoulders. "Sarah, you've gotten taller."

"Yeah well it's been almost half a year," Sarah replies simply, almost emotionless. Kensi feels for the little girl. She's being so strong.

"Have you had fun here?" Rob asks her. A big smile crosses her face as she nods.

She sees Cheryl relax a little. "That's good, I heard you saw the fireworks last night." Kensi knows they're trying to just make her more comfortable. She knows Sarah sees right through this but plays along for their sake.

"Yeah, there was a gazillion colors and there were big and little ones. One of them covered all the sky!" All the adults laugh at the six year olds explanation of fireworks. "But they were kind of scary, and they went 'BOOM' and then I was okay because I was sitting with... them" She looks up at Kensi. The little girl was melting her heart and she just wanted to give her a big hug, but she couldn't, not right now.

"You really like Mr. Marty and Miss Kensi, don't you Sarah?" Rob asks her. Sarah nods and looks down at her little hands folded in her lap.

"Yeah, I do." she finally looks up at him.

"Hey Sarah, why don't you help me put Michaela up in her crib?" Kensi knows what has to be discussed should probably be done without her present.

They put Michaela in the crib. "I'll stay here and watch her. Go back down." Sarah sees right through Kensi's plan and she nods and retreats back down to the living room.

"So, I see Sarah's left a mark on you too." Cheryl says looking at the photos again. She'd never even really taken photos, mainly because Sarah looked so much like her sister when they were little. Every time she looked at Sarah, she saw Nicole, and the pain was brought back. Even after four years, she still couldn't get over it.

"She's special." Kensi replies, letting her eyes drift over all of the happy memories on the wall.

"I don't know what we do now. I feel wrong about this, but Sarah said she wanted to stay with us last night, and we just told he we'd have to talk. I don't want to take her from you." Deeks squeezes Kensi's hand as he says this.

"Yeah, I suspected that was coming." Cheryl nods at her husbands statement.

"You did?" Kensi's surprised he'd figured that out. This wasn't a normal conversation, but this wasn't a normal situation either.

"Yeah, when I saw you with Sarah outside, she looked so happy. She hasn't smiled like that since she came to us. And apparently she's been having fun here." He glances back at the photos of Sarah on the wall, with that same big smile on her face he'd never seen.

"She wasn't like that at first, we thought it was just because she was missing you guys, and then we had a little barbeque and she was playing with the other kids and that's when she started to smile." Kensi starts.

"We thought it was because she was being distracted from the situation, and she was being herself again." Deeks finishes.

"no, Sarah rarely smiled before. For some reason you've always been able to bring a little happiness to her, since the day she met you." Cheryl is staring at the picture of Sarah sitting in the grass with a Popsicle in her hand, Kensi is trying to wipe the red drips off her face and they're both laughing.

"He's always been good with kids." Kensi says locking her eyes with his.

"I know, and I know Sarah would be safe with you." Both of them look at Cheryl in shock. _Is she really saying this?_

"I think Sarah would be happier with you. But are we allowed to do this?" Deeks is stunned for a second, then he looks at Kensi and pulls out his the book, marked with his diploma.

"Okay, so this might work." Rob says. He doesn't want to give up Sarah, but he knows he'll see her. Marty wasn't going to keep her away from him.

"So, she would still be our niece, and you would be her parents." Cheryl looks up at him for confirmation.

"Yes, and we will bring her by when ever you want to see her, you can even have a card for the gate at the end of the street to come visit."

They nod their heads and ask for a minute to talk about it. Kensi and Deeks go up to the nursery and sit with Sarah.

* * *

><p>"So? What's happening?" Sarah looks up at them.<p>

"We don't know yet sweetie, come here." Kensi sits on the ground and Sarah comes to sit on her lap.

"I really want to stay with you. I still love them, but I want to live here. Please?" Sarah's voice cracked on the last word. Deeks crouches down to stroke her back.

"Shhhhh... It's okay baby girl, it's going to be okay." It seems to calm her enough.

* * *

><p><em>Cheryl and Rob's POV<em>

Kensi and Deeks climb the steps.

"I don't want to make the wrong decision here. I feel guilty about taking her from them. She clearly loves them. But I don't want to feel like I'm letting Ted and Nicole down. I already feel bad enough that I can't attach myself to her, I just feel like I don't have the right, you know, she's your sister's daughter, not ours. She deserves to be loved, I've tried and I know you have too."

"I know. I feel like this is the right decision. She's still our niece, it's not like we're never going to see her again. We'll see her more than we did in the past few months," Cheryl pauses and says a prayer. "I think this is what Nicole and Ted would have wanted. For their little girl to be happy and loved. And you and I see Marty like a brother anyway. Oh, and I completely forget about Kensi, have you told her yet. I meant to mention it to her earlier but forgot."

"No, I figured that was something you'd want to tell her." Cheryl nods at her husband just as they hear the monitor come to life. They can hear the conversation with Sarah. They nod again and hear them start down the stairs.

Kensi and Deeks walk into the living room area, Sarah's in Kensi's arms and they sit down in the big armchair together.

Cheryl starts, "Kensi, there's something I meant to tell you earlier." she starts digging through her wallet and pulls out a picture. Kensi immediately recognizes almost every face.

"Kensi, Ted was your cousin, on your mom's side." Kensi looks up and the color drains from her face. She leans back into the chair and Deeks' arm goes around her, she's too numb to even look at him. "Kensi," Cheryl waits for her to look up. "I know you're still upset about you're mom, but I needed to tell you. When I saw you when you came in with Marty, you looked familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Then, when I was shot," she pauses and swallows. She looks down for a second before looking back up at Kensi. "They say your life flashes before your eyes, and I remembered seeing you at a family birthday party. Nicole had brought me with her because our parents weren't home that weekend and she was going with her new boyfriend, Ted, to his cousin's party. We went down to that little creek and I almost broke my arm when I fell of the rock. Remember?"

Kensi digs through her memory. Its almost like she's just found a key to a dam, and the memories come flooding back. Images of her cousin, her grandparents, her mom, and her dad. It was her tenth birthday party. She was playing with this girl named Cher in the woods when she slipped, if Kensi hadn't practically dove to catch her, she would have broken something.

"Yeah, I do. Ted was like my brother, I always wondered where he'd ended up, if he had a family." She smiles at Cheryl and tries to hand her the picture back.

"No, you keep it. You seem to know how to appreciate photographs better than I do. It'll just go back in a box if I keep it."

Kensi nods and sets it on the coffee table. She remembers Ted bringing Nicole to other family events too. When her mom left, she'd been forced into attending a few of her family events, but never talked. When her dad died and she found Jack, she'd cut off all ties to both sides of her family.

Something strikes Kensi, she should have thought of this already. "So Sarah's my second cousin?" Cheryl nods. Kensi looks at the little girl in her lap. "And she's a Blye." Sarah nods at her. _Why didn't I ask her what her last name was? I guess I just assumed she had taken her aunt and uncle's last name of Stormer. Hmmm, that does explain a few things._

Deeks has the same thoughts. "I knew she reminded me of you. That famous Blye death glare, stubbornness, hard head, it all makes sense now." both of them punch him in the shoulder without thinking. He looks at them. "Hey, no fair, two against one?" They laugh and turn back to Cheryl and Rob.

"We think it's a good idea." Rob finally says. Sarah looks confused. "For you to stay with them." Sarah's eyes light up and she runs to hug them.

The need of a lawyer was avoided and he'd already had the papers faxed to him before lunchtime came. They sat outside on the pool deck and watched as Sarah drew pictures on the pool deck.

"Now all they need is a court signature." They take Michaela back over to the Taylor's house and Kensi explains it all to Amy on the porch.

* * *

><p>"Sarah's really my second cousin, only I just found that out today. My cousin, her dad, died along with her mom when she was two. The people looking after her were her mom's sister and husband. They've asked us if we want to adopt her and so we're going to sign the papers today. My cousin was like my big brother, I'd do anything for him. Just keep this a little secret though. I'm pretty sure the rest of the neighborhood already thought she was our daughter." Amy nods and says good luck as she takes Michaela into her arms.<p>

* * *

><p>Kensi drives and Michaela sits in the back between Cheryl and Rob. They're all trying to do what's best for the little girl, and now that she knows that Sarah's Ted's daughter, she seems even more special. Cheryl goes to explain what had happened between the last time Kensi saw him, to when he died. Ted had always had a vast understanding of the world beyond his years. The military had basically begged him to join, and he did. He was in some intelligence branch overseas. He'd been honorably discharged after their work was done and he wasn't called back again. He settled down with Nicole, who'd waited for him to return. They'd had Sarah and life was great, until the crash.<p>

The car had been behind a tractor trailer and it had jack knifed in the road right in front of them. They were killed instantly and several other lives were lost in the crash. Sarah had been at their house at the time, they were going out for dinner after Nicole had been promoted to supervisor at her job at this big department store she'd worked at for years. "They'd wanted to celebrate alone so we'd taken Sarah for the night. We didn't find out until the next morning what had happened. They didn't leave any documentation about who would take Sarah, but unable to track down any other family members, we took her in. It wasn't until I was shot that I even remembered you."

"What happened to Ted's parents?" Kensi asks.

"Well, your mom's brother is over in Iraq, they divorced right before he deployed and we can't track her down." Kensi nods. She knows her grandparents had died right before her mom left, so she didn't even ask about them.

She looks in the rear view mirror and catches Sarah's eyes. They're both holding back the tears in their eyes.

Arriving at the same courthouse they had less than six months ago, they walk in and get the required signature.

Cheryl and Rob said goodbye to Sarah, as Deeks put the last of her things in Kensi's car. It's nearly eleven when they get home, and Kensi isn't sure if she should go and get Michaela tonight, she doesn't want to wake up her neighbors, but as they're getting the last of the things out of Kensi's car, Amy brings Michaela over.

"I saw you pull in, I assume it went well?" She says, seeing the boxes of toys and clothes in their dining area by the door.

"Yeah. Thank you again for helping out today, I don't know how we could have done it without you." Kensi gives Amy a gift bag and tells her to open it.

"Oh, I love them!"

"Now you have a start." Kensi tells her, she remembered Amy telling her in the pool at the barbeque a while ago that she wished she had pictures like they had, but didn't know where to start. Kensi had taken a few pictures of them on the fourth of July, some of the kids, some of just Chris and Amy, and some of the whole family. There were about six picture frames in total. They weren't huge, but they would look nice.

Amy leaves and they get the girls into bed.

He feels the bed dip beside him and he reaches out for her. It was so automatic, he didn't even think about it any more.

"So now we do have two kids. How are you holding up after the news today?"

"I don't know, I don't think it's sunk in yet, by the way, how did you even come up with the idea of this guardianship thing?"

"Hetty, she said it was out of her hands and I was the lawyer. I think she already knew that Sarah was your cousin."

"Why wouldn't she tell us?"

"I think she assumed we'd already figured that out."

"Why didn't we even think to ask her about herself, I mean her parents names, her own last name..."

"I didn't want to bring any of that up, I don't think you did either." She nods, realizing he was right.

"Now there's two Blyes and two Deeks'"

"Yeah, except now I'm outnumbered 3 to 1!" She laughs against his chest and he pulls her in closer. They fall asleep, minds open towards anything the future might hold.


	8. Back to Normal?

_**Sorry about the extra long wait! I have been so busy and honestly had completely lost inspiration for this but after the last few episodes, i started thinking again. This is only about a tenth of the length of the other chapters, but I didn't have another 10,000+ words in me tonight. So please leave a review and possibly ideas! I will be trying to wrap up Ohiopyle Adventure and Team Bonding Weekend here shortly. Hope you enjoy!**_

_About three months later…_

"Mom! Guess what!" Sarah exclaimed running through the front door. She had started kindergarten about a month ago and, after a meeting with the teachers at her school, was moved into the first grade today.

"What?" Kensi said smiling down at her daughter who had quickly accustomed to calling her Mom and Deeks Dad shortly after adopting her.

"Loren is in my class!" She said nearly jumping up and down.

"That's great!" Loren was the same age, but was a grade above her because her birthday was in the summer and Sarah's wasn't until November. Kensi grabbed one of Sarah's cups from the cabinet and filled it with her juice. Sarah hopped up on the bar stool and gladly accepted the juice along with the apple slices with peanut butter Kensi had prepared for her before she got home.

"And we even sit next to each other!" Sarah continued with her story as she ate her snack then went to her room.

Deeks arrived home from picking up a few supplies from the store about thirty minutes after Sarah came home. The girls were going to spend the weekend at Kensi's mom's house to give them a little time alone.

This had been happening quite often since Kensi had brought the girls and Deeks over to her mother's house for the first time. This gave them a lot more time to do things they couldn't exactly do with their daughters only down the hall, and in Sarah's case, on the other side of the wall.

Kensi's mom was thrilled to be reacquainted with Sarah; her niece/granddaughter was almost a carbon copy of her own daughter, personality wise.

Her mother had been a little more than surprised when Kensi had showed up at her doorstep with not only a new boyfriend, but two daughters.

_Shortly after Sarah's adoption_

"We should probably tell your mom about.. well, everything…" Deeks suggested one night after they had put the girls to bed. They were sitting in the large arm chair wrapped up in the blanket from the back of it.

"Maybe not everything…" She said grinning.

"Oh, and who has the dirty little mind now?" Deeks questions her raising an eyebrow.

"We probably should though. I'll try to call her tomorrow. Let's not tell her ahead of time and surprise her a little." Kensi said smiling.

"Well this should be interesting." Deeks says with a hint of sarcasm. They return to watching television and head to bed around midnight.

The next morning Kensi called her mom who immediately wanted her daughter to come over for dinner. Kensi accepted but did mention bringing someone. She didn't want to be rude and not have her mom be a little prepared.

Around five they left their house. "Where are we going?" Sarah questioned, noticing she wasn't familiar with the area.

"We are going to visit Kensi's mom."

"I thought you said you hadn't spoken in a long time?"

Kensi remembered saying something like that at the diner when she first met Sarah. "Yeah, I just started talking to her again not too long ago, and I thought it would be nice for you to spend some time with her since she is your grandma and aunt. Also, I didn't tell her about you or your sister or Dad."

"This is going to be funny isn't it?" Sarah giggled causing Kensi and Deeks to laugh as they pulled into her Mom's driveway.

Julia was outside when they arrived, probably waiting for them. Kensi got out and hugged her mom after telling Sarah to wait in the car.

"What a nice surprise! I haven't seen you in a while Marty! Kensi didn't say who was coming with her!" Kensi's mom hugged both of them.

"There's another surprise too." Kensi said as she and Deeks headed back to the car. First Deeks let Monty out, who had recently been reacquainted with his beloved owner.

Kensi's mom was distracted by the dog and didn't notice them getting into both sides of the car, assuming the dog was the surprise they brought. Deeks picked up Sarah who had unbuckled herself and her sister making it easier for Kensi to scoop the baby up.

Kensi's mom's back was still turned as Monty had rolled over for a belly rub and she was bending down to pet him.

Kensi and Deeks walked towards her with the girls.

"I never thought I would see the day when you had a dog Kensi." She said as she started to stand up.

"Technically Monty was Deeks' dog before we moved in together." Kensi replied.

This caused Julia to turn around rather quickly, and if her eyes weren't already big enough, seeing her daughter standing there with her boyfriend and two little girls made them grow even bigger.

"Oh my! Kensi! Why on earth didn't either of you tell me you had kids!" she ran over and gave them both a big hug looking at the baby in Kensi's arms.

"Well, we didn't until a few months ago." Kensi replied.

"What?" Julia was puzzled now; she looked between her daughter and Sarah quickly.

"Sarah is Ted's daughter." Kensi stated her mother covered her mouth and tried to keep the tears at bay. Deeks handed Sarah to Julia who hugged the little girl tightly.

"I haven't seen you since you were a baby!" Kensi's mom said trying not to cry. She missed her little brother and always regretted being out of country when his accident occurred. Nobody mentioned his daughter so she assumed Nicole's parents had already taken her and she didn't want to start a custody battle.

"We had her in protective custody while Nicole's sister and husband, who had been taking care of her, were stuck in an investigation. They ended up getting hurt and Sarah was with us for four months before we found out who she was. We were actually already thinking of adoption before that though." Deeks explained.

"Now what about the baby. She is so precious. She has your eyes, Kensi, and nose. Definitely your hair though Marty." Julia said looking at Michaela.

"Actually she is adopted too." Kensi said. "You remember Hanna-Rose right?"

"Of course I do! You two were inseparable growing up! Oh no, is she…. Did she…" Seeing Kensi nod, she covers her mouth once again. "How?"

"Brain aneurism." Kensi said, her mother put her free arm around her, since she was still holding Sarah. "Somehow she found out we knew each other and left her in our care."

Julia was more than thrilled to have her daughter back. Adding two granddaughters into that plus the man she is almost positive will be her son in law shortly, she couldn't be happier.

_Present_

Kensi and Deeks had just dropped Michaela and Sarah off at her mom's and were heading back home to go out.

"Where exactly are we going?"Kensi asked as she looked through her closet.

"Surprise, but I will tell you it's probably going to be one of the nicest places we've eaten yet." Kensi nodded at his statement and looked down at herself before choosing the dress she thought would be best for tonight. She put on the simple maroon colored dress and straightened her hair before applying some makeup.

Deeks was dressed in a nice suit and tie, something she was not accustomed to seeing him in and realized he was probably up to something.

Kensi wasn't worried though because she had a feeling she knew what it was and she had her own surprise ready for him as well.

This was going to be an eventful evening for sure.


	9. Kensi's Surprise and Separation Anxiety

_**Well, many of you commented on what you think the little surprises are going to be… some of you did guess correctly ( it wasn't that difficult for one of them) If your guess wasn't right it's probably going to be coming up in the next few chapters, be patient.**_

Kensi watched as Deeks helped Sarah with her boogie board. She wanted to be just like Daddy, but Kensi wasn't letting her surf just yet. She was sure she could do it, but she was too small to be out there just yet.

Deeks pushed Sarah into a wave as she lay, clutching to the foam board as the wave pushed her into shore.

Michaela, or as they had started calling her, Ella or Ellie, was playing with Kensi in the shallow water, laughing when a wave went over her toes. It was November and both Kensi and Deeks had returned to work, leaving Ellie with Deeks friend, Allison. If they had to work late, Ally would come and wait for Sarah to get off the bus and make dinner at their house, usually with her daughter Maria. Maria was four, but got along great with Sarah. Sarah had one of those personalities that lit up any room she walked into. She tried to see the good in everyone and never treated anyone as less of a person because of how they looked, acted, talked, or their age.

Ellie was now 9 months old and becoming a little handful. She was very vocal and was easily excited. She absolutely loved Nell and was learning to walk with the help of her little rolling seat.

"I'm so glad the floor is raised around the living room." Kensi commented as Deeks was playing Pac man on his laptop with Sarah.

"It does work pretty well." He commented watching Ellie roll herself around the living room. The step up to the kitchen and dining room area also meant she couldn't get to the front door and there was also a step up to the back door.

"We are going to probably want to put childproof doorknobs on the doors, at least the back doors, soon. I don't want her getting out to the pool once she can walk." Kensi made a mental note to pick a few up at the store next time she went out.

"I don't think it would be a bad idea to get one of those pool covers you can walk on either. Just to be safe."

Kensi nodded in agreement. It was Friday night and tomorrow they were going to be celebrating with Sarah's "family" birthday party. They had just come home from her bowling party with her friends from school.

Kensi and Deeks couldn't help but smile as she introduced the little boy named Luke in her class as her "boyfriend". Although, Kensi was surprised that he actually seemed to care. She was sure it was just puppy love but it was still interesting to say the least.

Luke was a cute little kid, dark brown hair and piercing blue eyes, very similar to Callen's. He held Sarah's hand almost all night and pulled her chair out for her when they went to eat pizza. He always went to get her a drink if she said she was thirsty.

At the end of the party Kensi and Deeks talked with his mom.

_**At the party:**_

"Hi, you must be Sarah's parents."

"Yes, nice to meet you, and you are…?" Deeks replied as he shook her hand.

"Courtnie, Luke's mom. I hear all about Sarah after school." Kensi and Deeks laughed watching the two kids playing with the toy horses he gave her at the table. Most of the other kids had either left or were at the arcade waiting for their parents.

"We noticed, he seems like a good kid." Deeks says as he watches the little boy play horses with his daughter.

"Yeah, well, we just moved here a couple months ago. Luke's dad is stationed in Afghanistan, and we were relocated here. Sarah's was the first one to talk to him. He's always been so shy."

"Sarah's like that, she doesn't like to see other's left out. We actually just moved here too." Kensi says turning back to Courtnie.

"Luke said something about that; he said Sarah told him that you adopted her after her parents died. Were her parents related to you?" Courtnie asked.

"Her dad was my cousin, I didn't even know she existed a year ago."

"She seems like a very sweet little girl. Do you have any other kids?"

"Yes, Michaela, she's about nine months old now. One of our colleagues is around here somewhere with her." Deeks replied scanning the area for Nell, assuming she was either in the arcade or bathroom with the baby.

"Does she do anything after school? Luke has been wanting to have her come over and play but I told him I would have to talk to her parents first. I know I don't like him going with people I don't know."

Kensi looks at Deeks and gives him a nod. "Yeah, that sounds great. Our work schedule is kind of unpredictable so we usually have a babysitter pick her up at the bus stop if we are working late, so she could just drop her off someday."

"That sounds great, if it would be easier, I pick Luke up every day from school. We only live a few blocks away."

"What's your address? My mom actually lives near the school too."

After describing where she lived, they figured she was probably about two streets over from Kensi's mom.

"So would next Wednesday be okay? They get out of school at noon for Thanksgiving break and you could pick her up when you get off work." Courtnie suggested.

"That sounds like a plan, and if it's getting too late, don't hesitate to call my mom to pick her up." They exchanged phone numbers and information.

Just to be on the safe side, they would have Eric or Nell run a search on her, just in case.

_**Friday night**_

"Okay Sarah, time to go put your stuff away in your room. We have people coming over tomorrow and we want the house to look nice." Deeks said as he shut his laptop down.

"Okay." Sarah sighed as she started carrying her new toys up to her room. Kensi couldn't help but smile when she saw Sarah sleeping with the two stuffed horses Luke gave to her that night.

"Well, I think it looks pretty good." Kensi said as she put the last few toys into the built in cabinets they had installed around the television.

"I'll put her to bed and make sure the doors are locked." Deeks volunteered as Kensi sent him a grateful smile and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek as she headed to their bathroom to shower.

_**Saturday morning**_

They were awakened by not one, but two little girls jumping on them. Sarah was now big enough to get Ellie out of her crib once the gate was lowered. Ellie now could also walk when holding onto someone's fingers, which Sarah often let her do.

"Get up! Get up! It's party day!" Sarah half screamed while still bouncing on Deeks' side. Ellie was beside Kensi who was laying with her back to Deeks chest and his arm over top of her.

Ellie babbled and squealed in delight with the excitement. Kensi moved over and Sarah jumped between them. Ellie, not wanting to be left out, tried to push herself up over Kensi to crawl to her big sister, but ended up doing a summersault and landing on her face.

They all waited for the cry, but Ellie just laughed. She laughed and laughed. It was one of those adorable baby belly laughs that happens when they are laughing really hard. Pretty soon the entire room was filled with laughter as Sarah pulled her sister up into her arms.

"Who's coming today?" Sarah asked playing with Ellie's feet, making her gurgle and giggle.

"Well, Aunt Nell and Uncle Eric are bringing the birthday cake, Uncle Callen is bringing the pizza, Grandma Hetty is going to be coming, Uncle Sam and Loren should be coming along with her mom, and you're Mimi should be coming too. Uncle Rob and Aunt Cheryl said they would try to come as long as soon as they can but they have to be at the restaurant until three." Kensi's mom had chosen to be called Mimi instead of Grandma or Gram. She said those names made her feel too old.

The team had been dubbed aunts and uncles since neither Deeks nor Kensi really had much family left. Cheryl and Rob had stayed a part of Sarah's life, and seemed thrilled with the way the situation had turned out.

"Is Uncle Callen bringing his girlfriend?" Sarah asked as they made their way downstairs.

"I would imagine Christina would be coming unless she has to work, we left the invitation open."

Deeks was making Sarah's favorite breakfast, a giant waffle with ice cream, nutella, and strawberries. She practically inhaled it. She was growing too, they had noticed. She was now above Kensi's hip, which was a dramatic increase, being Kensi was about 5'8". Her hair had lost some of its highlights from the summer, and it was now almost the whole way down her back in little soft wavy curls.

She was currently going through a phase Kensi's mom was familiar with; she wanted to be like the boys. She didn't like wearing pink anymore and always wanted to play sports; soccer, basketball, she had even played on a weekend tournament tee ball team. And to their surprise, was actually very athletic, despite her appearance.

She did, however, pick out a dress to wear for her party. It was a teal blue dress that tied at the waist with a purple silk ribbon and the dress faded into that purple color at the bottom. It wasn't overly frilly, but still looked adorable.

Ellie was wearing an outfit Kensi thought was adorable. It was a soft green, three quarter length one piece, with little purple and blue elephants and a bright blue tutu and lavender leggings. It was something she saw while buying Sarah's gifts and thought it would be perfect for the party. It even had a matching blue bow clip for her now longer hair. Ellie was one of those babies who never lost her hair. It was thick and long and now very curly.

Kensi and Deeks brought all the decorations in from the garage while the girls ate and Sarah changed clothes.

She had chosen to do a horse theme. Kensi realized Luke must have known about this too, probably before they knew about her little horse obsession. Kensi didn't know until they were picking out decorations a few days ago.

There was a chain of letters that read happy birthday that they strung across the back doors. There were plates and napkins with horses, a table cloth with horseshoes, and a piñata shaped like a horse. Sarah had insisted on getting one for both parties, even though Loren would be the only other kid here.

Kensi was setting up tables in the area by the back door when Nell arrived. They had all decided it was too cold and looked like rain, so the party would be held indoors. Nell was soon greeted by a very excited birthday girl.

"Aunt Nell! Aunt Nell!" Sarah called running down the steps and hugging her.

"Hey there birthday girl!" Nell said as she gave Sarah a hug with her free arm. She was carrying the balloons followed by Eric with the cake.

"Where do you want these Kensi?" Nell called across the room.

"Wherever she wants them." Kensi replied.

Sarah quickly went around arranging the balloons. She put the big horse balloons with the weighted piece in the middle of the two tables Kensi had pushed together by the back door. The few other horse balloons were tied to chairs and onto the lamp beside the couch. She then proceeded to put the simple colored balloons everywhere; up the stairs, on the backs of chairs, on doorknobs, even on Ellie's walker.

Streamers were hung around the house and presents were piled next to the television. The guests continued to arrive and there was a very happy atmosphere with children laughing, and the team enjoying being away from work.

Hetty had pulled into the garage since she didn't want to be seen by neighbors, but also wouldn't miss Sarah's first birthday party as a part of their family for the world.

They waited until Cheryl and Rob arrived around 3:30 to start eating. The cake was brought out and had been beautifully decorated with horses and had a number 7 candle in the middle of 6 other candles. It had "Happy Birthday Sarah" written in the icing. The cake itself was made to look like grass across the entire top, and had a few plastic horses on it with a white picket fence going around the cake and a barn in one corner.

They sang happy birthday and cut the cake. It was chocolate, Sarah's favorite. Kensi had also bought Sarah's favorite ice cream at the moment; Neapolitan.

"Alright, you want to open presents Sarah?" Kensi asked as everyone settled into the living room. Ellie was frustrated she couldn't move with all of the people in her walker, so she was being carried around so nobody would step on her. Sam's wife had been holding her, but now set her on the ground in the middle of the couch, loveseat, and two chairs, all of which were full. Sam and his wife had taken the love seat, Eric was sitting in one of the chairs with Nell perched on the arm of it. Cheryl, Rob, Hetty, and Kensi's mom were squished on the couch leaving Callen and Christina with the two chairs that were usually outside, but had been brought in for today.

Kensi and Deeks sat on the floor; Ellie crawled over to her sister by the television. Kensi's mom reached down and rubbed her shoulder affectionately, causing Kensi to smile over her shoulder at her. Julia would have never imagined her daughter's life to be so perfect. She always hoped she would grow up and find a man to settle down with and have a family.

Kensi not only had a man who absolutely adored her and would love her until the day he died, but she also now was a mother of a beautiful seven year old girl and an energetic nine month old baby girl. Looking around, Julia realized she had also found her own sort of dysfunctional family. Sure, they weren't related by blood, but they were family to her daughter, and now felt like her own family as well.

She watched as her daughter's partner wrapped an arm around her waist as she put her head on his shoulder watching as their daughter unwrapped her birthday presents.

Callen was taking the pictures, claiming he didn't want them to miss out on interacting with her because of looking through a camera screen.

Ellie loved the wrapping paper and was doing her belly laugh as she played in it, causing everyone else to laugh as well. Kensi could tell Sarah was starting to feel like Ellie was getting too much attention so she picked the little girl up and handed her to her mother, who always loved to fuss over the baby. Julia and Hetty passed the baby back and forth as Sarah continued to open her presents.

Loren had picked out a purple scooter for her with a matching purple and white polka dot helmet that came with knee and elbow pads along with gloves to protect her hands if she fell.

Callen and Christina, both with absolutely zero child experience, had spent a long time picking out their gift for Sarah. They had finally decided to go with a teal colored furby that had been advertised everywhere in the ads for Christmas that were already out.

Hetty had bought Sarah a collection of almost all of the Box Car Children books. They may have been a little too advance for most kids, but Sarah was already reading books with a third grade reading level in the first grade. She had also recently been tested and placed in the gifted program at school.

Eric and Nell, with their attraction to electronics, had bought her, after approval of Kensi and Deeks, an iPod Touch that they restored. Kensi and Deeks had specifically said not to spend too much on presents because she didn't need spoiled.

Kensi's mom had, of course, not listened. Being the grandmother and all, she went all out for her granddaughter's birthday. She bought her the new Kindle Fire with the camera and a protective case. Kensi gave her mother a faux annoyed look while smiling; she knew her mother wouldn't listen.

Cheryl and Rob had bought her a new bike, which they had wrapped in a large box so she wouldn't guess what was inside. She had recently outgrown her old bike and was thrilled to have this one. It was a bright sparkly blue with tropical flowers and white wheels and handlebars. It came with training wheels that Kensi knew she would refuse to use.

Kensi and Deeks gave her their present. She was confused when they handed her the decorated purple manila envelope. She opened it and freaked out when she saw the tickets to Disney Land. She had been begging to go all summer, but with the little situation, they had never been able to go. The tickets were for New Year's Eve when they had their gigantic firework display.

It was soon time for everyone to go, and hugs were exchanged before departing.

Sarah was happily playing with her Kindle Fire on the couch while Kensi and her mother cleaned up.

"You didn't have to do that." Kensi said.

"Oh, yes I did. As her Mimi I have full rights to spoil your child."

Kensi had to laugh a little at her mother's reply. Deeks had taken Ellie upstairs to change her and try to get her to take a little bit of a nap since she missed her afternoon one because of all the excitement.

"I would have never guessed I would ever see my grandchildren, or even my daughter, a year ago, but look now." She cupped Kensi's cheek with one hand. "I have my beautiful daughter back, not one, but two gorgeous granddaughters, and" she dropped her voice just in case, "a possible son-in-law?"

Kensi tried to hide her smile as she reddened.

"I know its coming sweetheart, he definitely is head over heels in love with you."

"I know." Kensi said smiling sheepishly.

"Have you two talked about the possibility of someday…?"

"Kinda, it's been brought up a few times, but we haven't like, seriously discussed it or anything." Kensi replied. She was back to folding up the table cloths.

Julia decided to drop the subject. She walked over to Sarah and kissed the top of her head. "Do you like it?" She said leaning over the back of the couch watching as Sarah played some type of animal game.

"Yes, I love it! Thank you!" Sarah said looking up.

"You're very welcome, sweetie, I have to go now, I'll see you soon though okay?" Sarah stood up on the couch and gave her a hug and kiss. "Happy Birthday big girl."

"Bye Mimi!"

"Julia, if you're leaving, please take food with you." Deeks said as he came down the stairs.

"Yes, mom, we can't fit it all in the fridge." Kensi added as she folded up the tables and started moving them to the closet.

"Here, I'll get those; you go with your mom." Deeks said as he took the tables from her.

"Alright..." Kensi said eyeing him suspiciously. She knew he was up to something. They both knew she was perfectly capable of putting the tables away.

He put the tables in the closet and grabbed the little black box from the back; he had hidden it a while ago, and forgot about it until he was getting tables out this morning for her to set up.

Kensi helped her mom carry things to the car and let Monty back into the house. It had been too chaotic for the dog today, so they had left him in his kennel in the garage. He was not happy, but he seemed to forget as soon as he was let out.

Deeks ran upstairs and was trying to figure out a good hiding spot when he heard her come back inside. He quickly hid it inside of his suit jacket in the back of the closet and moved down the hallway into the nursery before Kensi came upstairs.

He heard her check the closet first, which he knew she would, she was much too curious for her own good.

"What are you doing?" Kensi asked as she walked into the nursery.

"She started fussing." He lied as he flicked off the lamp and walked out to the hallway.

"You're hiding something." She said eyeing him once the door shut.

"What would make you think that?"

"You're acting strange, and you practically bolted across the living room when I tried to go into the closet. What are you hiding?"

"That's for me to know and you to find out. But some of us do Christmas shopping early, so don't go snooping or you won't be surprised Christmas morning." That wasn't a complete lie, he had already bought her a couple of presents, but the object now in his jacket is not for Christmas.

"Hmm, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt." She said still eyeing him warily.

"Good, now we should probably go put that food away and try to get Sarah ready for bed."

"You're going to have to pry that tablet from her hands to do so." Kensi joked, although it was somewhat true.

"Sarah, time to get ready for bed." Kensi called as they walked down the stairs.

"A few minutes." Sarah replied.

"No, Sarah, now. Listen to Mommy." Sarah sighed and put the tablet on the counter before going upstairs. She had also received new pajamas from Kensi and Deeks along with a few more sets of clothes.

Kensi stepped closer to Deeks wrapping her arms around him. "She listens to you so much better." Kensi somewhat pouted.

"Children tend to listen to male figures more, plus you're too nice."

"Good cop, bad cop."

"Good agent, bad agent." He replied wiggling his eyebrows. She laughed and he ducked his head to kiss her.

They heard Sarah getting out of the shower and broke apart.

"We don't get much time to ourselves anymore." He said, but quickly added to it. "But it's worth it. I wouldn't trade any of this for the world."

"Well I have a little surprise for you." Kensi said grabbing a second envelope from the cabinet above the fridge that they didn't really use because of its awkward height. She could just barely reach.

"Open it." She instructed smiling at him.

"Alright," He ripped open the seal and two tickets and a paper fell out. They were reservations for a hotel and airplane tickets for Hawaii for the beginning of December.

"Hawaii? Really!?" He looked like a little kid on Christmas.

"Yes. I already had it approved by Hetty, Callen, and the director. Allison will watch Michaela during the day, as usual, and Nell offered to watch them at night. I think she may have talked Eric into helping as well."

"What about your mom?"

"She's going to visit some friends that weekend and said she could cancel, but I told her Nell had already offered and it was okay."

"You did plan it on this weekend on purpose right?"

"Why?"

"Wait; do you know what that weekend is?"

Kensi froze, it was probably important. _It's not his birthday, or mine. It's not a holiday, it's after thanksgiving weekend. Okay, wait, it's not when we were first partnered, it's not the day anyone died, and I don't think it was a specific case….Oh God! How did I forget!_

"I feel stupid." Kensi said upon realization.

"You're never stupid." He said pulling her into an embrace again.

"That was pure coincidence. I didn't plan for it to be the same weekend, Nell helped me book the reservations, it was more of a take what we could get because most spots were booked."

"You do remember though now right?"

"Of course! I don't know how I ever forgot. It's the first anniversary of our first night we became more than just partners."

"More than just friends too, I think."

Kensi nodded in agreement. "So you like it?"

"Are you kidding me? I have wanted to go to Hawaii since I was a kid!"

"Who is going to Hawaii?" Sarah said coming down the stairs.

Kensi picked Sarah up and sat her on the island next to them. "Mommies and Daddies sometimes need to go on little vacations."

"Am I coming with you?" Sarah asked hopefully.

"Not this time baby, next time you and Ellie can come with us. You're going to get to stay with Aunt Nell and Uncle Eric while we are gone." Deeks explained softly

"And don't forget about the trip to Disney at the end of next month." Kensi added.

"Okay." Sarah replied, still somewhat disappointed she couldn't go, but she was happy she could go to Disney. And they said they would take her there with Ellie later.

"Alright, off to bed." Deeks said putting her on the ground. She tried to grab her kindle.

"I don't think you need that to sleep. It will be right here in the morning."

She half glared at Kensi before turning and running up to her room.

"What was that?" Kensi asked Deeks once she was out of ear shot.

"I think that's the sugar wearing off, a few more minutes and we probably would have had a meltdown on our hands."

Kensi sighed and they settled on the couch to watch television, but Sarah returned downstairs about ten minutes later.

"Why are you up?" Kensi asked.

"I can't sleep, Mommy."

"You weren't upstairs very long." Deeks adds

"But I'm not even tired!" She whined, almost crying.

Kensi got up and walked to the kitchen where she made her daughter a glass of kids' sleepy time tea. Sarah drank it but didn't want to go up to bed still.

"Can I watch TV with you?"

"For a little bit. Then you're going to bed, only because you don't have to go to school tomorrow." Kensi said as she settled back on the couch with Deeks, but Sarah didn't want to sit in another chair, so she crawled into Kensi's lap.

"What's wrong honey?" Kensi asked stroking Sarah's long hair.

"How far away is Hawaii?" She asked, and now Kensi could see she was trying not to cry. She pulled her in closer and Sarah let the tears fall.

"Baby, what's the matter?" Deeks said pushing her hair back from her face. Sarah just shook her head and continued to cry. "Come here." Deeks said trying to get her to come to him.

"I want Mommy!" She cried, Deeks was somewhat surprised, and by the size of Kensi's eyes, she was too. Sarah had never cried for her Mommy in particular before, it was usually just for whoever was closer when she got hurt or was mad.

"Its okay, Mommy's here. Shhh, sweetie, what's wrong?"

She mumbled something into Kensi's shirt.

"I can't understand you when you talk in my shirt."

She picked her head up and turned to Kensi's ear. "I…on't….wa…ant…. y..you…t..to….le..leav…ve" She hiccupped still crying.

"Let's go get some air." Kensi got up and Deeks went to follow but stopped when Kensi shook her head. He was very confused. Kensi usually didn't do well with situations like this, but seemed to think this was something she needed to do alone.

She grabbed the big fuzzy blanket out of the closet and pulled Sarah's sweatshirt and coat off the hook by the door as she put her Ugg style boots on. 

Kensi slipped her boots on as well and they went outside. She pulled the blanket around both of them but Sarah didn't want to sit, probably because she was about to fall asleep.

"Ca..can..we…wa...lk …d…down …to… the…the..bea..ch?" She said still hiccupping, but not crying as much.

"Sure." Kensi agreed, picking Sarah up again and motioning to Deeks through the window that they were going down to the beach.

He nodded and she headed through the gate. Kensi spread the blanket out in case they did want to sit down, and they both put their boots and socks on it.

"So what's the matter? You don't get this upset very often."

Sarah had calmed down and was only hiccupping a little now. Kensi handed her a tissue out of her pocket that she had put in as they were walking out the door.

"I don't want you to go aw.. away." Sarah said starting to cry.

"Hey, hey, hey, it's okay. It's okay."

"No, it's not." Sarah said shaking her head. "I don't want you to leave."

"We're coming back, I promise."

"I'm going to miss you Mommy." Sarah said throwing herself at Kensi and crying again. Kensi picked her up and took her over to the blanket near the water.

"You see the moon up there?" Kensi said to Sarah, who was once again trying to calm down.

Sarah nodded against her shoulder after turning around in her lap.

"Well Hawaii is just over the water there. And its close enough that we can both see the moon. So just remember that Mommy and Daddy aren't that far away okay?"

"What if I can't see it? What if it's cloudy?"

"We'll call every night. You're going to be in school most of the day anyway and I'm pretty sure Nell has a TON of fun stuff planned for you to do. I think she mentioned going to the movie theater on the weekend and maybe going to the pier to ride a few rides and play games. Doesn't that sound like fun?"

"I'd rather be with my Mommy."

"Well, Mommy and Daddy are just going to be relaxing. You probably wouldn't have much fun anyway. Probably just sitting around reading and being quiet."

"Daddy can't be quiet!" Sarah said laughing a little.

"No, he's not very good at that is he? Well we'll be doing quieter things. Probably going out to eat, you wouldn't like the food we eat anyway, and maybe going to the spa. It's only for a few days. We're leaving on Friday, while you're at school. Then we'll be back on Tuesday before you get home. It's still a few weeks away too."

"I want to go to the spa too!"

"I'm sure Aunt Nell would love to do a spa day with you! Most spas are for adults only so you might have to do it at her house. I'll mention that to her."

"Okay, I'm still going to miss you though." Sarah said.

"It's okay to miss me and Daddy, but we'll call every night. I bet you'll be having so much fun you won't want to come home when we get back!"

Sarah yawned and leaned into Kensi. "I love you Mommy."

"I love you too Sarah." Kensi said kissing her head. She soon felt the little girl fall asleep and decided to come back for the blanket and shoes after she tucked Sarah into bed.

She walked through the door and motioned for Deeks to be quiet. She carried Sarah upstairs and tucked her into bed.

She checked on Ellie before tiptoeing back down the steps to see Deeks carrying in the blanket and shoes. She smiled at him. "Thank you."

"What was wrong? She's never done that before."

"I think it was a combination of the sugar wearing off and her being extremely tired. She was upset that we were leaving here, me in particular, I'm not quite sure why though."

"We've never left them alone before."

"She's stayed at my mom's for the weekend though and been completely fine though."

"Does she not feel comfortable with Nell and Eric?"

"No, I think it's more of the idea that we aren't going to be a few minutes away."

"So it's more of a separation anxiety thing than being afraid to stay with someone else."

"I think so, is this a normal phase?"

"Probably, I think most girls have this problem. I remember hearing parents at the precinct talking about their kids going through it, usually when school starts, but I'd say it's probably just a little phase, contributed to by the sugar and exhaustion."

They headed to bed after watching some TV; it was already well past midnight by the time they crawled into bed.

_**Sorry, I only got to one surprise in this chapter, I don't have it in me right now to continue, and it's already almost 6000 words! I promise next chapter if you haven't already guessed it, it's not really that much of a surprise.**_


	10. Vacation and Deeks' Surprise

December 7th

Kensi and Deeks were running around in circles trying to get everyone packed and ready to go. Nell was coming over with Eric to pick up all of the girls bags and supplies for the weekend. Sarah still wasn't thrilled with the idea, but wasn't complaining either, which Kensi and Deeks took as a good sign. Michaela, or as they now were calling, Kayla, was still asleep in the backpack Kensi was wearing.

Kensi and Deeks couldn't make up their minds on her name. Michaela was too long, Ella wasn't really short for Michaela, and Ellie didn't fit well either. Kayla was somewhat fitting. They still could technically change her name, but that wasn't something they wanted to do, since she was named after them by Hanna-Rose.

Kayla definitely had the largest pile by the door. With her crib mattress and travel crib, stroller, a few packs of diapers and diaper products, a small suitcase of clothing, a new box of formula along with her bottles and the warmer, it looked like the child was moving out.

"Can I bring my Kindle?" Sarah called down from the top of the stairs. She had become much more comfortable since she first arrived. Originally she would run down to ask a question, if she left their side at all. Now she just screamed from wherever she was.

"Yes, but if Uncle Eric or Aunt Nell tell you to put it away, you have to listen. They can take it if you're not behaving." Kensi warned.

It had been a good item to punish with. Kensi wasn't ever a fan of grounding a child, especially when they are only in the first grade. They don't go out much with friends at that age.

Kensi's parents had always punished her by taking away TV or her music when she was younger. Her mom always said grounding would punish her friends as much as her and it wasn't fair to them if she wasn't allowed to go.

Deeks hadn't really had much disciplinary teaching as a child. His parents weren't exactly role models, so he was following Kensi's lead on this one.

Sarah was not too thrilled about having to get up for school at 4 am. She was still in pajamas when they were walking out the door. Kensi had told her to change at Nell's house after they stopped at McDonald's for breakfast.

Sarah was always much friendlier after eating. The rest of the drive was pretty calm until they pulled into Nell's driveway.

Sarah decided she didn't want them to leave again and was crying so loud they thought the neighbors would wake up, so they went inside.

Thankfully, Kensi and Deeks had allowed about an hour of extra time in case this did happen so that they wouldn't miss their flight.

After a gentle coaxing from Nell, Sarah finally let go of Kensi's leg and allowed them to walk out the door, after giving their goodbye hugs and kisses to both of their daughters.

Deeks noticed how quiet Kensi had become on the way to LAX. "Kens, what's wrong?"

"I'm…" She was going to say 'im fine' until she remembered who she was talking to and sighed. "I'm just missing the girls already. We haven't been away from them before, and… I'm just… I don't want to say worried because I know Nell and Eric are perfectly capable of taking care of them… but anxious?"

"They will be fine. We'll call them tonight before they go to bed. Hey, you're just being a good mother. Nell is great with children, and I'm sure they will be fine. Just try to enjoy our vacation, okay?" Deeks replied in a soothing voice and saw Kensi visibly relax after his statement.

After clearing all of the security check points, they were finally boarding the plane to Hawaii. They ignored the safety show put on by the stewardess, along with everyone else on the plane.

"Seriously, why do they do this, I wasn't thinking about the plane crashing into the ocean until they brought it up." Kensi complained.

"I don't know, but they were probably horrible at charades." Deeks mocked the stewardess that was standing right next to Kensi causing her to laugh along with the few people behind them who could see him imitating the actions of how to inflate the life vest. When she turned around, he acted completely normal, causing more laughter.

After the plane was off the ground and they were free to move about the cabin, Deeks excused himself to the toilet.

"You and your husband are adorable." The lady sitting next to Kensi said.

"Oh, we're not married." Kensi replied automatically.

"Engaged?"

Kensi held up her bare hand, "Nope."

"Well you are a cute couple none the less."

"Thank you." Kensi replied as she turned on her iPad now that they were permitted.

"I don't mean to be nosy, but are those your kids?" The woman asked as Kensi's lock screen came up and the photo of Michaela holding Sarah's fingers and attempting to walk appeared.

"Yes, Sarah just turned 7 and Michaela is 10 months." Kensi said proudly.

"Is he the father?"

"…Technically, yes." Kensi said after thinking for a second. The woman looked confused. "They're both adopted so neither of us are the biological parents." Kensi explained.

"Well they are adorable, and you could have fooled me, the older one looks like him and the baby looks just like you, other than the hair."

"We get that a lot."

"Oh, I guess I forgot to introduce myself, I'm Jessie."

"Kensi, and his name is Marty. So where are you from?"

"I'm living in Los Angeles now, but I'm going to visit my dad who's currently stationed in Hawaii."

Kensi and Jessie continued to talk and found they had a lot in common with each other, even though Jessie was only 18 and finishing high school. Her dad had just recently been moved again but she wanted to finish out high school with her friends. Kensi understood this, being a marine brat herself. Kensi began to wonder what had happened to Deeks, he'd been gone at least ten minutes now.

"I'm going to go make sure he's okay." Kensi excused herself, wondering what he had gotten himself into this time, hoping he wasn't sick either.

She found him near the back talking with someone who looked very familiar. "Astrid?! What are you doing here?" Kensi said as she hugged the teen.

"I'm going with my friends on a trip. I have friends now Kensi." Astrid stated, smiling her beautiful smile as she addressed Kensi. Kensi looked around and noticed she was sitting with a family who looked like they had a girl about Astrid's age. Kensi assumed she was probably like Astrid.

"So who is you're friend?" Kensi asked.

"I'm Sophia, Astrid and I met in art class a few weeks ago downtown." Kensi was surprised, Sophia seemed like a very "normal" girl.

"We both like to draw. We both like computers too." Astrid added.

"She told me about her dad and my mom told her she could come stay with us, she didn't want to at first but finally decided to try it."

"Now we are like sisters. I have more friends now too." Astrid said still smiling.

"That's great, Astrid." Kensi was thrilled she had found a real friend. Kensi had gotten to know Astrid for who she was, and it seemed Sophia had too. Most people saw the Autism and didn't want anything to do with her, but Astrid was really just like any other girl, incredibly smart too.

Kensi and Deeks had to return to their seats so that the food could be brought down the aisles, but continued to talk about Astrid.

"The family seems really nice. Sophia's mom is actually a therapist and has been helping Astrid some."

"I'm glad to see she's doing well." Kensi said as they returned to their seats.

About twenty minutes later, after eating the surprisingly tasty airplane food, a little girl came running down the aisle and squeezed through past Kensi and Deeks and sat in the empty seat between Kensi and Jessie. They all just looked at each other, unsure of what to do, they had no idea where the little girl came from, or who the parents were.

"Where are your mom and dad?" Kensi asked her, the girl was probably about four or five. Old enough to understand her, but too young to be by herself.

The girl just laughed and wouldn't reply.

"What's your name?"

"Marissa."

"Well, Marissa, I think you need to go find your parents before you get into trouble. You don't want to be in time out the whole time you're on vacation, do you?" Kensi asked as she would to her own children.

"Oh, but they fell asleep. It's so boring!" Marissa complained.

Kensi dug around in her bag for a moment, before pulling out a box of crayons and a small notepad that she kept in there in case Sarah became restless in the car or when they went out to eat.

"let's go find your parents and you can play with these. There's only about an hour left, okay?" Kensi said as she picked up the little girl and placed her on the ground. Kensi took one of the girl's hands and Deeks followed behind them.

"I don't remember where they were at!" The little girl said once they had walked through about fifteen rows of seating. There was a middle row of four seats and two outside rows of two. "they were in the middle. But I don't know the number!"

Kensi took a deep breath, she figured the parents would realize shortly that their daughter wasn't with them anymore and they would see them soon.

"There they are!" Marissa said as a woman a little older than Kensi came through the hallway connecting the sections of seating. "Mom!"

"Marissa! Where did you go? I told you to stay in your seat while I went to the bathroom. Your Father is not very happy right now. I'm so sorry, thank you for bringing her back." She finished looking at Kensi and picking Marissa up. "where did you get these?"

"She gave them to me." Marissa explained. Her mom went to give them back to Kensi saying she didn't need them but Kensi refused.

"It's okay, I keep them with me in case my daughter needs them, but it's just her dad and I on this trip. I would hope he wouldn't need them!" Kensi joked, as Deeks poked her, both knowing his habit of coloring with Sarah, still acting like a kid himself sometimes.

They returned to their seats. "I'm so glad we never have to worry about Sarah doing that. I always forget how well behaved she is until I see other kids her age acting like that."

"Well she knows she'll get in trouble if she does. But she is a good kid, I don't think I have ever heard her say one mean thing about anyone."

"I know you told Sarah we'd be doing things like going to the spa and being quiet and relaxing, but can we do fun stuff too?"

"Who says I don't think that stuff is fun?" Kensi challenges and tries to look angry, but they both end up laughing. They both know she is definitely not the type of girl to go get facials.

"I do actually want to go to the spa for a day and maybe get a massage or something, it should be relaxing, but then we can do other things too."

"Can we go surfing? Please?" Deeks reminded her of a little kid sometimes.

"Of course! Who goes to Hawaii and doesn't surf?" Kensi replies as she flips through a brochure from the back of the seat in front of her. "What about visiting an active volcano? They do tours, and snorkeling. I've always wanted to do that." Kensi says as she turns pages and keeps finding more and more things to do. She hadn't had much time to really plan what they would be doing.

They finally landed in Hawaii and checked into their hotel after saying goodbye to Astrid at the airport. She and her new family were visiting Hawaii for a few days before going to China to visit the great wall. Astrid and Sophia had apparently been begging to go to China for weeks to take pictures and experience the culture. Sophia's mom said they couldn't fly over Hawaii without stopping for a few days.

Kensi and Deeks decided to go to the spa the first day to relax, and maybe get another massage before they went home.

Around the girls bedtime, Kensi pulled out her iPad and called Nell over Skype.

"Hey, Kensi. She's been waiting for you to call, she just went to the bathroom. So how is everything?"

"Great, we saw Astrid on the plane, she's staying with a family from Los Angeles and is best friends with their daughter, it sounded like they were going on a family vacation. They stopped in Hawaii for a few days before heading over to visit China."

"Good for her. Well here's Kayla" Nell said as she turned her iPad towards Eric who was walking down the steps with the baby.

"Hi Kayla!" Kensi and Deeks both said at the same time. The infant looked around, hearing her parents' voices but not knowing where they were. Nell brought the tablet over and put it in front of her. "Hey baby girl." Kensi cooed.

"Kayla… Kayla…" Deeks said watching as the baby recognized their faces on the screen and started kicking and reaching for it.

"Ah, ah, ah, let's not turn off the ipad there baby. Nell said pulling the ipad to a safe distance.

Sarah came down from the bathroom. "Did they call yet?" She asked.

"Hi Sarah!" Kensi said as Nell turned the iPad around.

"Mommy!" Sarah jumped down the last few steps and ran to Nell who had her sit on the couch to hold the tablet.

"Hey there! How was school?" Deeks asked.

"Good. How's Hawaii?" Sarah asked.

"Pretty good. So are you and Aunt Nell doing anything exciting?"

"We went to the playground and got ice cream before going to the beach tonight!" Sarah loved the beach just like her daddy, but definitely had the infamous Blye sweet tooth.

They finished their conversation before shutting off the iPad.

The next two days went by way too fast for Kensi and Deeks, they were enjoying being alone again. They missed their daughters, but were enjoying the time to themselves. They hadn't been able to go out to dinner without a diaper bag and baby food for months and also hadn't officially been on a first date yet.

Deeks had a plan for that one. Their last night, he asked Kensi if she would go on a date with him, she laughed and agreed. He told Kensi to wear her dress she had brought with her, it was a beautiful white strapless sundress with Hawaiian flower print. She paired it with a pair of nicer sandals and he wore his khaki shorts and a light blue polo shirt, he refused to wear Hawaiian shirts.

"Where are we going?" Kensi asked as he drove their rental car over the hills across the island.

"It's a surprise."

They finally pulled off the main road and traveled down a sand road for a few miles before it ended. He opened her door for her and took her hands. "I can either blindfold you or have you just close them. But you have to keep them closed or the surprise will be ruined."

"I will keep them closed. I promise." Kensi said, not wanting the blindfold.

He led her down the path to the beach. It was one of the most well known areas for weddings and romantic occasions.

He stopped. She still had her hand over her eyes and he knew she had them closed because she would be freaking out if she saw what he had set up.

"Don't open your eyes until I tell you to." He said as he let go of her hands.

"I won't" Kensi knew he put a lot of thought into this and wanted to be honestly surprised at whatever it was he was doing for her.

"Okay, you can open them." He said.

Kensi dropped her hand and opened her eyes, only for her hand to fly up and cover her mouth as she gasped at the sight. It was a reserved area of the beach with a picture perfect sunset. He had somehow set up a table with a pristine white table cloth and with a champagne bottle next to a silver platter of the food, but the picture perfect setting was not why Kensi was trying not to completely loose it.

Marty Deeks was down on one knee next to rose petels arranged into a heart around the words "Will you marry me?" She stepped towards him and he took her hand.

"Kensi, you are my Wonder Woman. You're the mother of our two beautiful daughters. You're the best partner I have ever had. But, most of all, you're my best friend; and there is nobody else in the world who I would want to spend the rest of my life with but you. So, Kensi Marie Blye, will you marry me?"

He pulled out the little box and opened it for her to see. Inside was a white gold ring with a medium sized diamond between two red stones. It was beautiful. Kensi couldn't even speak.

She nodded her head, not caring that she was crying now. He slipped the ring on her finger and stood up to kiss her. They enjoyed their meals and watched as the stars came out in the night sky. Not wanting the night to end, but needing to get back to call the girls before bed, they reluctantly walked hand in hand back to the car.

They had about ten minutes before they had to call. "Do you think Sarah's going to be okay with it? I know she's not a huge fan of change."

"She knew about this months ago, she helped me pick out the ring." Kensi was shocked. Sarah hadn't even hinted at that, even when she was upset about them leaving.

"You don't think that's why she was so upset, do you?" Kensi asked.

"No, I don't. She actually kept asking me when we were going to get married because she said you told her she could be the flower girl." Deeks said smiling.

"Okay, good. I almost forgot about that promise."

"So do you like it?" Deeks asked holding her hand and looking at the ring.

"It's perfect."

"Do you know what those are?" Deeks asked pointing to the red gems on the sides of the diamond.

"are they Rubies?"

"Garnet, actually. It's the birthstone for January." Kensi looked confused for a moment. "For the two most important men in your life, one for your dad, and one for me." Kensi's heart melted at his words. He had put so much thought into the ring, unlike most husbands who would either ask their future wives what ring they want or just pick what the salesperson recommended.

"I… I don't know what to say. I absolutely love it. It's perfect." She said before kissing him again.

"We should probably call now. Nell's probably going to be wanting to get to bed here soon as well."

Nell picked up the iPad within a few rings, she looked exhausted. "Eric and I have a new found respect for you two. Keeping up with them is exhausting." She yawned. Kensi looked at Deeks and he nodded. Kensi held her hand up between them as Eric entered the screen with Michaela. "Oh my God! Really! So you two are?" Nell immediately was energized again, kensi and Deeks nodded to answer her. "that's great! That's more than great! That's amazing! I'm so happy for you two!" Nell was practically squealing and bouncing up and down on the couch.

"Where is Sarah?" Kensi asked quietly.

"Taking a shower. I think the water just turned off." Eric replied.

"We're going to tell her in person when we get home." Deeks informs them. Nell makes a gesture as to zip her lips closed.

After a brief talk with Sarah they all went to bed, Eric and Nell's end because they were all too tired to stay up, and to do other activities on Kensi and Deeks side. 


	11. Happy

After reading the chapter, read the note at the end and let me know what you think!

Kensi and Deeks flew back to LA Tuesday afternoon, early enough to get Sarah off the bus and unpack before going into work the next day.

"MOMMY! DADDY!" Sarah screamed as she ran full speed at Kensi and almost knocked her over after getting off the bus.

"Hey baby girl!" Kensi greeted her. Sarah didn't seem to want to let go of Kensi but eventually went to Deeks.

They decided not to tell Sarah and see if she would figure it out herself. She knew what the ring was for, so it wouldn't take long.

Sarah rambled on about everything she did with Uncle Eric and Aunt Nell and how she got to go over to Luke's house again after they saw them at the park the previous day.

Deeks made one of their favorite family meals, homemade pizza. Kensi set the table while Sarah worked on her homework in the study area.

The alcove area behind the steps finally found a purpose when they realized the table was too distracting for Sarah to work at.

They all sat down at the table and were laughing about something when Sarah started freaking out. She had just taken a bite of pizza and Kensi was taking a drink of her soda. Sarah's eyes got really big and she tried to say something.

"Swallow before you talk Sarah." Kensi said trying not to smile because she knew why Sarah was so excited.

Sarah practically swallowed the entire bite at once, almost choking. "You're ring! He gave you the ring!" Sarah practically shrieked as she looked between the two of them.

"Yes he gave me the ring." Kensi said smiling as Deeks took her hand.

"So you are getting married now?" Sarah asked for clarification.

"Yes we are, and you get to be the flower girl." Kensi replied as Sarah practically leaped across the table to get to them.

"When is it? Who's going to be there? Can I help you pick out your dress? Can I pick out my dress? Who's the best man? Who's the maid of honor? Where's it going to be? Wh…"

"Whoa there Sarah! Deeks said pulling her into his lap. He still had Kensi's hand too. "We haven't quite thought that far out yet. I just proposed last night."

"I want the wedding to be soon. Probably just close family and friends, probably my mom, Cheryl and Rob, the Hannah's, Callen, Hetty, Eric and Nell, and the Taylors. Astrid's family too. Yes you can help pick out the dresses and my maid of honor will probably be Nell. I don't know who the best man will be or where." Kensi replied.

"I like that idea, Eric probably would be the best man. Maybe have Luke be the ring bear? We don't really have any little boys in the "family". Would a beach wedding be possible?" He suggests.

"Yes, but we need a backup in case the weather isn't permitting. We should try to invite Nate too. Maybe Hetty could get Ray and Jenna to attend through Skype."

"Sounds good." Deeks agrees. Kensi suddenly bursts out laughing. "What's so funny?"

"Most people plan weddings for months, and we just planned pretty much the entire thing at the dinner table in one night." He started laughing along with her.

"Well, we never claimed to be conventional."

"Alright, Sarah you need to shower and start getting ready for bed." Kensi said after they had finished eating. Deeks had gone upstairs leaving Kensi to clean up.

After cleaning the kitchen, Kensi went to the nursery to see if Deeks was there, Kayla was, but he wasn't. She walked down the hallway to their bedroom. Deeks was sitting on the bed doing something on the iPad.

"What are you doing?" She asked as she walked over and sat behind him, looking over his shoulder.

"Watch this." He had pulled up the security footage of their house and was able to zoom in to see Sarah's reaction. There was some sound, but it was barely audible. They laughed as Sarah held onto Kayla's fingers and did a little dance.

They heard Sarah go to her bedroom and call Monty up to say goodnight to him. They took that as their cue and made their way down the hall.

They took their time saying goodnight. Deeks read the bed time story as Sarah sat in Kensi's lap on her bed. Kensi and Deeks could barely lay side by side on the bed, but it worked well enough, just a little squished.

Deeks finished reading and Sarah gave them both a big hug. "I don't think I've ever said this, but I love you."

"We love you too baby girl." Deeks said as he rubbed her back.

"I'm really happy you are getting married." She said as they were turning the lights out and leaving the room.

Kensi stopped halfway back to the room. "you okay Kens?"

"Yeah, just got a little nauseous, probably just from flying."

"Let me know if it gets worse."

"Alright." She agreed as they climbed under the blankets, cuddling as they did every night.

In the morning, Kensi was still not feeling great. Deeks was worried she had food poisoning; they had eaten a lot of sea food in the past few days. Kensi didn't feel like arguing with him so she let him take her into the doctor that morning after dropping Sarah off at school and letting hetty know they would be coming in late.

They arrived at her doctor at nine, right when they opened.

"Hello Kensi, I didn't think you had an appointment today." Doctor Grey said as she walked into the room. Kensi and Deeks were sitting on the chairs next to the examination room.

"I didn't. We just got back from vacation and I've been feeling kind of nauseous and he wants you to make sure I don't have food poisoning, sun poisoning, or another disease." Kensi said teasingly.

"I don't believe we have met before."

"Sorry, this is my fiancé, Marty." Kensi said smiling as she said the word fiancé.

He shook the doctor's hand as she asked Kensi to sit on the table.

She took Kensi's heart rate, checked her breathing, temperature, and even took a blood sample. All tests came back negative, but even Kensi's doctor noticed there was something off.

"I can only come up with one other explanation. Is there any chance you could be pregnant?"

Kensi and Deeks looked at each other as the realization hit them. "Actually, it is possible." Kensi said as she and Deeks both started smiling.

"Do you know if it would have been before or during your vacation?"

"During. We've been wanting to try for a while now, but with the girls and work we don't have much time to ourselves anymore."

"You've had children?" Her doctor said flipping through her medical records.

"Oh, no, we adopted."

"So im not going crazy, that's always reassuring. Now, I can run the test for you, but its highly unlikey that it will come back positive. Would you like me to try anyway?"

Deeks nods and she agrees. They anxiously wait for the results. "Now if you are pregnant, are you going to want the wedding to be before or after you have the baby?"

"I didn't really think of that, but I think before. I want to be married before we have the baby."

"That means we are only going to have a couple months. Is that enough time?"

"it should be, I mean, I'm not going to care if we just do it in our backyard…"

"That's perfect!"

"What?"

"Have the wedding in the back yard, well, down on the beach. Then we can have people come up to the house to eat for the reception."

"That would be good."

"And if it rains or whatever, we can go to the church down the street, or just reschedule."

The doctor came back in. "How long ago exactly do you think you conceived?"

Kensi and Deeks exchanged glances, "somewhere between 2 and 6 days ago, why? Is there a problem?"

"Well, do you have a history of twins in your family?" Kensi and Deeks stared at each other for a second, realizing what the doctor was saying.

"Actually, my grandmother had a twin sister, but she died at birth." Kensi vaguely remembered her mother telling her this as a little girl.

"Well twins usually skip generations, so that is good news. Your test came back positive, but it had relatively high numbers for such a short time, I want you to come back in about two weeks to check again, just to make sure this isn't your normal level, although that is extremely doubtful. I will warn you now though, it is not uncommon for one twin to disappear by the twenty week mark. Either by miscarriage or by being absorbed by the other."

Kensi and Deeks take the pamphlets the doctor gives them and go into work. They decide to wait to tell their coworkers until they know for certain that they are expecting, and Kensi doesn't want to be on desk duty for any longer than she absolutely has to.

"So if it's twins, we have even less time, probably within the next month or two." Deeks says as they park.

Kensi is playing with her ring, as she has found a habit of doing, when she gets an idea. "What about January 28th? Its my dad's birthday."

"Sounds like a good day to me." Deeks replies.

It only takes Callen and Sam about five minutes to notice the ring on Kensi's finger, and when they do, it's hugs all around. Hetty even came over to congratulate them.

Everyone, including Sam, looked at them as if they had lost their minds when they announced the wedding was only about a month away.

"Are you sure Kensi? That's not long to plan." Sam asks, knowing that his wife spent about a year and a half planning theirs.

"We actually already have it planned out. I just need to pick out the dresses and send out invitations."

The next few weeks feel like they are dragging on. Kensi and Deeks want to wait until after the wedding to announce the pregnancy, just because they don't want people thinking that the pregnancy is why they are getting married. Which, is kind of ridiculous, being they already have two children.

January 28th comes, and after Sarah's promised trip to Disney Land, they had gone and picked out dresses and tuxedos and placed all of the orders for catering and flowers. They had also picked out their wedding bands and hired a photographer.

It really wasn't as hard as everyone made it out to be, perhaps because they only had a few weeks to plan it, and neither of them really had a perfect wedding planned in their heads, just a happy day with no problems.. That's pretty much all they wanted.

Kensi's mom was finishing altering Sarah's dress, Since they weren't wearing shoes, it was a little long. Kensi's dress was perfect. It was fitted to her hips then flared out into a flowing skirt. It didn't have a train or big puffy skirt, just like she wanted.

"Ready?" Her mom asked as she led Sarah outside. Luke looked adorable in his little tux and Sarah was beautiful in her little white dress with a black sash in the middle.

They had chosen black, red, and white as the colors for the wedding. Originally it was only black and white, but Kensi loved the color red and she had red on her ring too.

Kensi was just glad she didn't have to wear shoes under her dress. The guys all had shoes on, it looked wrong with their tuxes if they were barefoot.

The girls didn't have to wear shoes, but some had sandals on. As Kensi walked through the sand dunes down to their wedding, she started to feel nervous. She realized she had no reason to be, she could already see him standing there as she met up with Granger before walking down the aisle.

Deeks wasn't too fond of the idea of Granger giving her away. He was the one who tried to arrest her only about a year ago. But, after Kensi explained that he was one of the only people her father trusted before he died, he understood her reasoning.

Originally, she was going to ask Callen to do so, he was like her big brother. Then she realized that would mean Sam would be the only one from their team not holding a role in the wedding.

Hetty would be marrying them and Eric and Nell were the best man and maid of honor.

There were probably only about twenty people in attendance. They had invited a few from the neighborhood as well, it was practically in their backyard too.

After they recited their vows and were pronounced husband and wife, Kensi and Deeks led everyone back to the house for the reception.

Kensi had puchaced a nice white sundress to wear at the reception. Their first dance was to Lonestar's classic, Amazed.

At the end of the night, after cleaning up with the help of the team and Kensi's mom, the realization began to set in. They were married.

"I can't believe we actually did it." Kensi said as they finished putting food away in the kitchen.

"No regrets right?"

"Absolutely none" She replied smiling. He leaned in for a quick kiss and they continued with the job at hand.

Kensi had an appointment the next morning to confirm the pregnancy and neither one of them could wait. She had already done about seven different tests at home, all coming out positive. They still needed the official word from the doctor.

Kensi was just thankful she didn't have morning sickness, yet. But if she didn't have it the first trimester, she had read online that she most likely wouldn't have it at all, although not having morning sickness was rare with twins.

She sometimes had waves of nausea but that was as bad as it got. Deeks wasn't going to complain either. The mood swings weren't here yet, so he was fine.

That was one thing he was not looking forward to. The third trimester would be his test; he read online that when pregnant with twins, the mood swings were terrible. He had dealt with the monthly mood swings, but he knew these would be at least tenfold what he was used to.

They put the girls to bed and made their way to their room. They had decided to wait to go on a honeymoon because of Kensi possibly being pregnant and having just been to Hawaii a month ago.

The next morning was Sunday. Kensi's doctor wasn't usually open, but had agreed to come in for her. She had been a patient here since she was a little girl, and was now bringing her daughters in for a checkup as well.

They were all taken to the big family examination room. First Michaela went. She was not too happy about the shot she had to get. Then Sarah went and was found to have nothing wrong, but needed to make sure she cleaned her ears better because of all the swimming. Deeks was checked as well, but also had nothing wrong.

Doctor Grey took another sample of Kensi's blood and told her she would be back in a few minutes.

Sarah was watching a movie on her Kindle and couldn't hear anything going on. The Lorax was her new favorite movie and was currently flashing across the screen.

Doctor Grey returned a few minutes later. "Well, you are definitely pregnant, most likely with twins, but as I said before, it is not unlikely for one to disappear before term. We'll be able to see in a few weeks for sure how many you have in there. Do you know if you have a history of identical or fraternal twins?"

"Actually I was talking to my mom, and she told my my dad's father had an identical twin, but my mom's mom had a fraternal twin brother that died at birth."

"Okay, well in your case we may be checking for triplets." Kensi and Deeks eyes looked like they were going to pop out of their heads.

"Triplets, as in three?" Deeks asked, still in shock.

"Yes, it is not uncommon for people with twins in the family to have two eggs become fertilized then have one turn into identical twins."

"Well, I'm just hoping for at least one son." Deeks said.

"You do seem a little outnumbered right now." Doctor Grey remarked.

Kensi made another appointment to be checked, although her doctor said that even at the next appointment it would still be too early to see how many she was carrying, it would be possible to see how many sacs there were.

Kensi and Deeks still hadn't let it sink in that they would be possibly having three babies.

"Where would we put them?" Deeks asked suddenly as they were laying in bed.

"I don't want to move, maybe we could add on a couple bedrooms? We have the one that's being used as storage right now next to Michaela's room, we could probably add on to the house at the end of the hallway and have the bottom floor be storage space, because we are definitely going to need that."

"I guess we can get there later. If it's only twins then one bedroom is fine, if its two girls or two boys they can share and if its one girl and one boy the girl can share with Michaela and the boy would have his own room."

"I'm hoping for at least one boy too." Kensi commented

The next two weeks went by very slowly. They still hadn't told Hetty, but a barely visible bump was starting in Kensi's abdomen. They knew they could only hide it for a little longer.

"Kensi Deeks" The nurse called. Kensi and Deeks eagerly followed her to the examination room for the first ultrasound.

"Please take a seat, Doctor Grey will be in to see you in a few minutes."

Kensi and Deeks sat down and were both nervous and excited. Kensi didn't know what to hope for, having twins would be cool, but triplets were a lot to take on at once. They had experience with one baby, two wouldn't be too challenging. They could each take one and it wouldn't be too bad, but a third child was where it became a little complicated.

"Hello, Kensi, are you ready to find out?" Doctor Grey said as she entered the room. Kensi's doctor was one of the best known for her ultrasounds. She almost never missed any developmental problems or issues that came up with her patients.

"Yes, we've been going crazy waiting for this appointment."

"Okay, can you pull up your shirt? Thiss is going to feel cold." She warned as she put the jelly on Kensi's stomach. The screen came to life with a picture. Kensi and Deeks watched as she moved the wand around, they couldn't tell what anything was. "Oh, there's baby number 1." Doctor Grey remarked as she froze the screen. "And here are babies number 2 and 3." She said after moving the wand to Kensi's other side. It took about five to ten minutes to find all three of them. Kensi and deeks just watched in amazement as they saw their babies for the first time.

"So there's definitely three in there?" Deeks asked.

"Definitely three. I would say that two are probably identical and one fraternal. Its very rare to have identical triplets. We should be able to find out the sex in a few months."

They left the doctor and went back into work. They had told Hetty they had an appointment over lunch and would be back as soon as possible. "We probably should tell her now." Deeks said as she stared at the pictures from the ultrasound while he drove.

"I guess so." Kensi really didn't want to be put on desk duty, but wasn't going to put her children in the line of fire.

They walked into the mission and headed straight to Hetty's Desk. "Ah, Mr. and Mrs. Deeks, how can I help you?" Hetty still would call Kensi Miss Blye on occasion, butt usually it was Mrs. Deeks now. It still was unusual for Kensi to hear that though.

"uh Hetty, we just wanted to, uh we thought we should tell you that…" kensi couldn't get the words out.

"We're expecting." Deeks blurted out for her. Hetty's smile was infectious as she congratulated them and looked at the pictures from the appointment.

Next Kensi and Deeks had to tell the rest of the team. Callen and Sam were happy for them, but then didn't believe them when they said they would be having triplets. They showed them the ultrasound pictures and Sam wished Deeks good luck, he probably would need more than luck though.

Eric and Nell both freaked out when they heard the news, and Kensi's mom was glad she was sitting down when her daughter told her she was expecting triplets.

"Well, I think we only have one person left to tell." Deeks said as they drove home from Kensi's mother's house. Kensi nodded. She wasn't sure how Sarah would react. One baby she probably would have been okay with, but three was going to be a shock.

Sarah had been becoming more and more of a Mommy's girl by the day, and Kensi was worried Sarah would be upset because of the new babies coming and she wouldn't have as much time with her anymore. There was also the fact that these would be _their_ babies. She and Michaela were both adopted, but these babies would actually be Kensi and Deeks' daughters and or sons.

They waited until they were eating ice cream to tell Sarah. "Hey baby girl, you're mommy and I have something we want to tell you." Deeks started.

"Well, your daddy and I have been thinking and we thought it would be nice if we added to our family."

"You're having a baby?" Sarah asked.

"Yes, and not just a baby, triplets."

"What does triplets mean? Is it like twins?"

"Kind of, it means there are three babies." Deeks answered. They watched as Sarah processed it. She started smiling.

"So I get more baby sisters?" She asked starting to get excieted.

"Well, we don't know if they are boys or girls or both yet. You could have baby brothers or two brothers and a sister or two sisters and a brother." Deeks explained. Sarah thought for another minute.

"Where are their rooms going to be? We won't have to move will we?"

"No, we're going to try to stay here. I think we are going to add two bedrooms to the end of the hallway at the front of the house. But at first they will all probably be in the storage room. Obviously after we clear out the room and make it into a nursery." Deeks explained.

"But for right now, until the babies are here, I can come home earlier because I can't do my usual job while pregnant. That way I will be here when you get off the bus." Kensi explained. Sarah seemed happy with that plan and Deeks decided to change the subject at that moment.

"Who wants to go to the beach?" he asked.

Of course Sarah was thrilled with that idea. Kensi and Deeks hadn't had a chance to get down there since the wedding.

They watched as Sarah built sand castles, as it was too cold to go in the water. "what are you going to name the babies?" She asked as she shoveled the sand.

"Well, we haven't really thought about it. Is there a name you like?" Kensi asked, curious as to what she would suggest.

"If it's a boy, I like the name Liam." Kensi looked at Deeks.

"I like it, actually." She said.

"Me too, would you want to name a boy after your dad?" He asked.

"Maybe middle name, Donald Deeks sounds like Donald Duck." She said and they both started laughing. "I kind of want to name a girl Maria though, that's what he wanted to name me, but my mom didn't like it, so they settled with Marie as my middle name."

"I like that idea. We probably need three for each gender though." Deeks reminded her.

"My mother's intuition says its two boys and one girl but we can find other names too."

"What about Isaac? I always liked that name." Deeks said as they were getting ready for bed that night.

"I like it, and for a second girl's name I was thinking something like Lizzy or Elizabeth."

"What about Tyler for another boy? And I like Elizabeth, but I was also thinking about Emily."

"I like both of those, I thought of Alex, and that name could go either way."

"With the names people are giving their kids today, Emily could be a boy's name." Deeks remarked.

Kensi laughed at that, it was true, people seemed to be switching the genders of the names, little boys named things like Mandy and girls named things like Matt.

They waited and waited and finally, after celebrating Michaela's first birthday, they found out they would be having two boys and one girl, just like Kensi had predicted.

Deeks was just thrilled at the fact that there would be boys. They had also already started the construction of the new part of the house. They were told that the babies full term date would be in the beginning of September, but the goal was for Kensi to carry them until August.

In May, kensi looked like she was nine months pregnant already, but she carried the weight extremely well. From the back you couldn't even tell she was pregnant, although she felt horrible. Her feet always hurt and she was tired all the time. Deeks reminded her that making three people wasn't easy on her body.

Kensi was told she was extremely lucky to not have any morning sickness yet, but she was afraid she would get it in the third trimester that would be starting soon.

Hetty gave Kensi permission to work from home if she wanted to, and email her paperwork to Eric and Nell when she got the chance.

By July, Kensi was about ready to induce herself, but knew the babies, especially the boys, needed to develop before they were born. She didn't want to have them stuck in the hospital longer than they needed to be.

Kensi made it until the end of August before going into labor. She woke up in the middle of the night with her first contraction. She called Amy to come over to watch the girls, as she had volunteered to do, and Deeks drove her to the hospital. He was surprisingly calm, she was expecting him to panic and stress but he was perfectly fine.

Kensi had to have a c section done because of the risks of giving birth to triplets naturally. The doctor made the smallest incision possible and Deeks was by her side the entire time.

Isaac Martin Deeks was the first. They brought him over to Kensi and Deeks to see before sending him away for medical treatment.

"He looks like his daddy." Kensi said as she saw her son for the first time.

"With his mommy's hair and eyes" Deeks said as he kissed her head.

Maria Kinley Deeks was the second, she was also the biggest baby. "Now she looks JUST like her mommy." Deeks said as they saw Maria for the first time. It was true, the resemblance to Kensi was perfect, Deeks couldn't really see much of himself in his baby girl.

Lastly was the smallest baby, Liam Alexander Deeks. He looked just like his brother, but it was impossible to tell yet if they were actually identical. They would have to be tested for that.

After about half an hour, the babies were brought into their room in the hospital. All three were perfectly healthy, but Liam was slightly Jaundus so he would have to stay overnight along with kensi who had to recover from her surgery.

The doctor was also a plastic surgeon and had removed the extra skin so she didn't have that pouch there.

The next day, they were able to take the babies home. Kensi's mom had brought the girls in, Sarah was now almost 8 and Michaela would be reaching her terrible twos in a matter of months.

There were a lot of people around to help when they got home. Amy, Cheryl, Kensi's mom, and Sam's wife Michelle were all there. For the first few days, they barely had to lift a finger.

They had decided to paint the room blue on two walls and pink on one, each with one crib on the wall. They only had two changing tables, because it really wasn't necessary to have more than that. They were currently potty training Michaela, so they only bought one new one, hoping to have her out of diapers soon.

Michaela had also just moved into a "big girl's bed". It was only about 10 inches off the ground and had a crib sized matress in it, but she could get out of it herself. She had also started to talk. Her first word was dada like every other baby in the world, followed shortly by mama and saya, which was how she pronounced Sarah. Michaela was starting to become a handful in the last few months, she was very vocal now, usually only able to be understood by Kensi, Deeks, Kensi's mom, and Sarah. Sarah had been a big help lately.

Kensi had been put on bedrest in July for safety of herself and the babies. Sarah had been her little helper, getting Michaela ready and helping her get breakfast before she went to school. Kensi's mom usually came over during the day to play with her granddaughter and keep Kensi company until Deeks came home.

She was still on limited physical activity until she had the staples removed from her stomach, but Kensi was happy to be able to walk downstairs and wear her old clothes again. Her jeans were a little tight, but she was sure they would be back to their normal fit in no time at all,

For the time being though, Kensi was enjoying being a new mother again. It was a little different from adopting, but it didn't make her love her other two daughters any less than these babies. They were all her children.

Deeks was too excited to buy little boy clothes, and Kensi had decided to go full out girl with Maria. Pink clothes, pink blankets, pink everything. To tell the boys apart, they dressed Liam in green or red and Isaac in blue or yellow. They kept little bracelets on their wrists with their names on them until they were able to tell them apart easier. So far, like Michaela when they first brought her home, the babies seemed to sleep, cry, eat, cry, want a diaper change, and repeat. Kensi had decided to try to breastfeed, but was using a pump because of having three mouths to feed. They were on an alternating diet of breastmilk and formula.

Although exhausted at the end of the day, Kensi and Deeks were happy knowing they had succeeded. They were happily married, had five beautiful children, and were succeeding in their careers. Everything seemed perfect.

Author's Note: Look at the picture for this story. It has a photo of how I am picturing the children while writing this. 


	12. Fishies, Reflections, and Aftershocks

**December**

"Arrrrgh…" Kensi complained as one of the babies started crying again. It was about three in the morning, and they hadn't had more than about half an hour of sleep between the triplets. They had been doing so well with their sleeping schedule until about a week ago, when they decided to keep Kensi and Deeks up all night again. Kensi pulled herself out of bed and took the monitor with her.

"Mommy, how long til they stop crying?" Sarah asked as she stood in the hallway rubbing sleep from her eyes.

"I don't know sweetie, why don't you go sleep with daddy and Ill stay in your room for the rest of the night. You two have to get up in the morning."

"Night mommy." Sarah said as she gave Kensi a quick hug and kiss before going into the master bedroom and closing the door.

Kensi had yet to return to the office, but was working some at home. Eric and Nell had set her up with a good computer to help them out on cases and so she could work on reports and cold cases during breaks. She'd been doing the latter more often, which was a good thing because it also meant Deeks could stay home most days and they could work together on them.

Kensi had originally thought it was a bad idea to have conversations about murders and serial killers in front of the children, but Sarah and Michaela didn't even seem fazed, to them it was just work conversation.

Kensi moved in and picked the screaming baby girl up out of her crib and carried her to the rocker. She rocked Maria until she fell back asleep.

Michaela amazingly slept through all of it. They had joined the two rooms through the bathroom so that when the boys moved out the two younger girls could share, and it made bathing the triplets so much easier. It also made noise travel to her room easier. Kensi went over to check on her before returning to Sarah's room for the night.

Surprisingly she was only awoken a few more times before morning. She walked into the master bedroom to get Sarah up for school.

She smiled at the sight that greeted her. Sarah was lying curled up to Deeks' side with his arm resting down on her back. Kensi crossed the room and woke the two up for work and school. Sarah left the room and Deeks rolled over.

"Come on sleepy head, you have to get up." Kensi said to him.

"mumphuhph." He mumbled something into the pillow.

"Don't give me that mister." Kensi said teasingly as she moved to the other side of the bed and crouched down in front of his face.

He opened his eyes. "That's better, I don't like it when I wake up and you're not there." He smiled at her and watched as she smiled back.

"Sorry, the babies were keeping Sarah up and she has to go to school and you have to go to work."

"Yeah, I should be home by noon, just have to grab a few files and Sam is making me practice hand-to-hand combat with him since it's been slow."

"Alright, but you're going to be late if you don't get out of bed soon, and you don't want to be on Sam's bad side for showing up late for hand-to-hand." Kensi said standing up and pulling the blanket off of him. He tried to grab at it but missed and instead just gave her a pouty scowling face. "Oh, come on, you're worse than Michaela!" Kensi joked.

Deeks had to smile at that one. If they had learned one thing in the past few months, it was that Michaela needed at least 10 hours of sleep and an hour long nap during the day. If not, they had a terribly grumpy two year old on their hands.

Sarah was now in second grade and was still in the same class as Loren. They were still great friends and as far as Kensi and Deeks knew, she still had her little boyfriend, Luke.

"Michaela! Stop it!"

"NO!"

"Out of my room I have to get ready for school!"

"NO!"

Kensi knew what was coming next before it was even said.

"MOOOOOMMMMYYYY! MICHAELA IS MESSING WITH MY STUFF AND WON'T GET OUT OF MY ROOM!" Kensi rolled her eyes at this and smiled as she walked down the hallway and into Sarah's room. Michaela was the definition of a "terrible two". She knew exactly how to push buttons and her new favorite word was "no".

Kensi crossed her arms as she leaned against the doorway looking at Michaela with her typical 'what do you think you're doing' look with one eyebrow up and a slight smile. Michaela simply gave one of her little "evil laughs", as Deeks so kindly called them, and ran back to her room. Kensi would have to go see what she was up to in a minute, it probably wasn't anything good. Sarah was standing in her room wearing a dress with pajama pants underneath and her hair halfway brushed. Kensi walked over and finished brushing it before putting mousse into it and scrunching it into waves.

"Why does she do that? Can't she just be normal for one morning and let me get ready for school?"

"She's still little, and when you're at school, she doesn't have anyone to play with. She thinks it's fun and games in the morning because her big sister is here."

"It's annoying."

"Be happy you have a little sisters and brothers, your daddy and I never had any. You at least have someone to play with all the time."

"I guess so." Sarah said as Kensi finished her hair.

"Why don't you go down and see what your Daddy is making for breakfast and I'll go see what trouble Michaela is getting herself into."

"Good luck!" Sarah said laughing as she rounded the corner to go down the steps.

Kensi took a breath before opening Michaela's door. She immediately panicked when she saw Michaela wasn't in there, and then noticed the light in the bathroom. She practically sprinted in there, her mind already going through all the scenarios that could have happened. She could have fallen and hurt herself on the tile, she could have tried to get into the tub and either hurt herself or somehow turned the water on and drowned.

Opening the door, however, Kensi was very pleased to see Michaela sitting on the toilet.

"Mama out! I do by myseff!" Michaela said, while waving her hand at Kensi in a 'go away' manner.

Kensi smiled as she closed the door. Soon she heard movement and peeked in and saw Michaela had successfully wiped and pulled her pants up. She flushed the toilet then looked at the sink.

"Mama I can't wreach." She said. Kensi opened the door fully and told Michaela to flush the toilet then she picked her up to wash her hands.

"I'm so proud of you baby girl! You used the potty all by yourself!"

"Do I get to weaw big giwrl undawayer like saya now?" She asked as Kensi changed her out of her pajamas and into a red dress with snowflakes on it.

"If you keep using the potty like a big girl then we'll get you big girl underwear, okay?"

"YAY!" Michaela said clapping her hands as Kensi pulled some of her hair into two little pig tails on the top of her head.

Kensi heard one of the babies start to cry and went in to get them as Michaela followed behind. Kensi decided to just bring the babies down with her, so she picked up the baby carrier and put Liam and Maria in it and strapped it on after quieting Isaac and decided to carry him instead of attaching the third carrying part.

The carrier was one of the best things they had found. It was designed so you could carry one, two, or three babies by snapping on more pouches. For one, it would just rest on the stomach or back, for two, it would be in front of or behind each shoulder, and three just attached between the two.

Kensi and Deeks didn't like the idea of not being able to see their children though so they always kept them in front. Michaela walked down the steps, holding Kensi's one free hand, slowly. Finally reaching the bottom, Michaela couldn't wait to tell her Daddy the news.

"I went potty alls by mysewlfs!" She said as she ran over to Deeks.

"You did?" He said as he picked her up and looked at Kensi.

"She did, I was helping Sarah get ready and she did it all by herself."

"Wow! You're getting to be such a big girl!"

"Yeah, good job sissy!" Sarah said.

Michaela was beaming. She was so proud of her accomplishment. Soon it was time for Sarah to leave for school, so after being handed her lunch box from Deeks, she gave each of her parents a hug and kiss then did the same to her little sister before kissing each of the babies heads. They were now sitting in their little swings.

"I have to start saying goodbye five minutes sooner now!" Sarah said jokingly.

Kensi and Deeks laughed and Sarah ran out the door as the bus started coming down the street. They watched her from the door as she got on the bus with the other children from the neighborhood.

"Well I think we need to do something special today for the big girl." Deeks said as he turned around.

"Don't you have to go to work?" Kensi asked.

"I have 3 vacation days left, even after already requesting the 15 off for Christmas. I have to use them up before the end of the year anyway." He said as he called in to talk to Hetty who told him not to worry about using a vacation day, she'd just fax over the papers and Sam had already called in because Loren was sick and Michelle had started working again, so he had to stay home.

"I'll see if Amy can watch the babies today." Kensi said as she walked towards the door. Just then a clap of thunder sounded and the rain came pouring down harder than it had been before. She slid Deeks' hoodie on over top of her pajama top and ran over to the Taylor's house. About ten minutes later she came back.

"Amy said she'd be happy to watch them as long as we were okay with her bringing Mallory over here because her house isn't exactly baby proof anymore."

"Great, so what does the big girl want to do today?"

"Playgwround!" She said immediately,

"Sorry baby, it's raining out today. Do you have anything else you want to do?" Deeks said as he picked her up. Michaela thought for a minute but had no other ideas. Kensi and Deeks figured they'd come up with something.

While they cleaned up breakfast, Michaela was watching some show on animal planet. "Fishies! Fishies! Mama wook! Fishies!" she said excitedly as the underwater scene filled the screen she was currently standing about a foot away from and pointing at.

Kensi got an idea. "Hey Michaela, do you want to go see real fishies today?"

Michaela looked confused, "Its wraning." She said, almost in a question.

"Well there's a place called an aquarium and there's lots of fishies in the tanks inside." Kensi explained to the two year old.

"Fishies!" Michaela exclaimed jumping up and down.

"I'll take that as a yes." Deeks said laughing. So with the day planned, Kensi headed upstairs to change while Deeks stayed down with the kids.

She was almost back to her old size. Her jeans fit again, but they were a little snug around the waist. Her doctor had done an amazing job at keeping her from having any excess skin. She'd had that taken care of shortly after having the triplets. There was also almost no scar from the c section, as they had made the incision down as far as possible. She could barely see it when she was wearing a bathing suit, even. Today was the first day she was going to wear one of her old fitted long sleeve shirts, though. She finally felt her stomach was flat enough again for them. She decided to straighten her hair today too, since she was actually going somewhere. She also put on makeup, which she rarely did anymore.

Coming down the steps, she saw Deeks immediately look at her choice of clothing.

"I would have never believed anyone that told me you just gave birth to triplets four months ago." He said as he gave her a quick kiss before holding her in an embrace as they looked at their wall that was quickly filling up with pictures of their family that seemed to grow just as fast.

"I love this wall. It's like a timeline that shows how far we've come. I mean, when that picture was taken," Kensi started, pointing to the large one that hung over the fireplace, "we had no idea any of this" she motioned to the entire wall, "Would happen."

"Yeah, I would have never guessed that we'd have five kids in less than three years."

"Or be together still and married."

"Oh I knew that would be the case." Deeks said smiling down at her as she leaned back into his chest to look up at him. "Don't tell me you never thought about it before then."

"Oh I did. I just didn't know how much you had."

"I'm pretty sure you had me wrapped around your little finger the moment we met." Deeks said with complete honesty.

The doorbell rang, signaling the arrival of Amy and Mallory.

"You look great Kensi, oh my god if I could have my body back, even after only two kids, I would be happy. You have to tell me you're secret sometime." Kensi just smiled as Michaela came running over to great the guests.

"There's the big girl! I heard someone is using the big girl potty now!" Amy said to Michaela who was still so proud of herself and felt even better that other people were recognizing her for it.

"Alright, big girl, let's go see the Fishies!" Deeks said as he picked up the backpack that secretly held pull ups, not that he was planning on needing them, but if she had an accident in the one she was wearing, they had backup.

They all climbed into the Cadillac. This vehicle was rarely used anymore. Kensi refused to drive a minivan, and Deeks didn't want to be caught in one either, so they had bought a Honda Pilot, which allowed enough room to put the triplets in the middle and the two girls in the back without anyone having to be too close to each other.

Today, however, they were a family of three. Michaela happily sang along with her CD the whole way to the aquarium.

"We're here! Yay!" Kensi said turning around to her daughter.

"Yay!" Michaela repeated.

It was only 10:30 when they arrived, so there weren't many cars in the parking lot yet. Kensi and Deeks each held one of Michaela's hands as they went into the aquarium.

Michaela had a blast. She absolutely loved watching all the fish swim around. She wasn't even remotely scared of the sharks that swam above her head when they walked through the tunnel. Deeks had brought his camera, of course, and knew he had a couple that needed to go on the wall.

One was of Kensi and Michaela both pointing at a turtle that was swimming right past them. Both of their eyes were wide with excitement and they both had big smiles on their faces. The other Kensi had taken of him and Michaela when they were feeding the dolphins and one of the handlers came over and showed Michaela how to give it a kiss. Deeks is laughing and holding on to her as the dolphin comes out of the water and up to her face.

Initially Kensi was a little wary of it, but figured that the handler knew what they were doing. They also had their picture taken by one of those little scene things where you see your picture on a TV screen by everyone else's as they were getting ready to leave.

They got home right before Sarah got off the bus. She walked in the door just as Kensi and Deeks were hanging the new pictures on the wall.

"Don't worry; we'll do something with you alone too." Kensi said as she saw Sarah's initial jealousy towards her sister for getting to go to the aquarium while she was at school all day.

Later that night, they were getting ready for bed when the entire house shook. Michaela and Sarah freaked out and came running for Kensi and Deeks down the hall.

Kensi looked terrified, so he sent her down with the girls to the living room. He was putting the babies in the carrier when another tremor was felt, even worse than the first. He hurried and grabbed extra diapers, clothes, and blankets.

Kensi had pulled out the sofas and had the girls already tucked into one when he came downstairs. He put the babies into their travel cribs and helped Kensi with their sofa.

Another tremor and he could see Kensi shutting her eyes as Michaela started crying. He went over to comfort Michaela. Monty jumped up with the two girls, not sure of what exactly was going on.

Michaela finally fell asleep, followed shortly by Sarah. Another big tremor shook the house; Kensi clung tightly to Deeks, who rubbed her back, calming her.

The girls slept through the rest of the night, but Kensi and Deeks didn't; when the babies weren't waking them up, aftershocks were. They had lost power somewhere between 1 and 3, so they had a lantern sitting on the kitchen counter so the girls wouldn't get scared of the dark.

Kensi and Deeks didn't wake up until almost 10 the next day, but they still didn't have power. Sam had texted Kensi saying that school was canceled and they had the day off because only the tech room had power from a generator.

They all spent the day playing inside. The girls built tents out of the blankets and cushions in the living room, and of course Deeks was right there in the action while Kensi kept the babies happy.

Deeks insisted that they all go down to the beach that night. Kensi argued that the sand was going to be wet and stick to everything, but Deeks promised to clean everything up when they got back, so she gave in. She understood why he wanted to go down so badly. With all the lights out, there was no light pollution to block out the stars. It was an amazing sight. He'd brought his iPad and was showing the girls the constellations. Kensi was watching on and amazed at how her life had turned around; from being a single woman who had a strict first date policy, to a married woman with five children in less than three years' time.

Christmas was just around the corner, and she was looking forward to their first as a family.


End file.
